A Mask of My Amicy | Teen Ink

A Mask of My Amicy

November 7, 2023
By Salted_Caramel GOLD, Hartland, Wisconsin
Salted_Caramel GOLD, Hartland, Wisconsin
17 articles 5 photos 0 comments

“Just a happy energetic girl,” they say.

I muster a smile back at them.


“How was your day?” they say.

“I'm doing just wonderful.”

The response was nothing more than a lie.


I trudge in the door from school to see my family.

“How are you feeling?” they say.

I respond with enjoyment through my teeth.

It’s all simply a mask.


To strangers,

I am but a delicate young lady.


To my friends,

I am but a strong, independent support.


To my family,

I am but a bright, happy child.


To myself,

I am nothing more than a patchwork of masks.


No mask fits.

If I stitch them together,

What will become of me?

An amalgamate of who I am and once was?


If I switch all the time,

Will they still be blind to it?

What if they find out?


Who really am I?

“You’re acting differently,” they say.


The author's comments:

I wanted to write about amicy because lately I’ve been feeling like my personality that I show to other people isn’t always true. It's hard for me to take off this mask of a persona that I’ve put on while at school or while hanging out with other people because I’ve gotten so used to it. Wearing this mask feels natural, but it doesn’t feel like me and I wanted to in some way express that in the writing. Towards the end of the poem I wanted to dig at the idea that I’m slowly learning to peel the mask off because I’m starting to not care so much about what others think as long as I’m true to myself. When it comes to the structure, I made the stanzas increase up to a climax and then decrease. I did this because I want to show how my life built up to a point where I realized how people see me differently, leading to a conflict with my own self, and then building back down to how I feel in the present day.


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