For When They Say You Wear Too Much Makeup by Caitlyn GD

Honey, you, beaming here, with your favorite lipstick

& liner & shadow & highlight & contour & lashes

& even some glitter—yes, glitter. yes, this early—

 

you with your face beat to the gods,

                         today you are exalted.

 

You are the hot breath that kindles the sun.

 

They say, “Take ‘em swimming on the first date.”

You don’t have to prove you don’t melt.

 

They’ve been dunking pretty faces for years

                         so scared you might be magic.

 

You are the blinding bright of rapture and, endless.

 

You are full of diamonds. They want into your earth,

to cut you up/deep/down/out the other side.

 

They want to buy and sell your shine.

 

They call you caked because you are too rich

for their palates. You are excess. You are extra.

& they are so thirsty, so hungry, so empty.

 

But, Honey, don’t. Don’t make crumbs of yourself

to please those who refuse to feed themselves.

---

Caitlyn GD lives, teaches, and rarely calls her parents in South Florida, USA. She is a queer femme witch, originally from Manhattan. Her work is in or coming to Gulf Coast Online, Literary Orphans, Drunk Monkeys, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Voicemail Poems, among others. She tweets at @Caitlyn_GD.