the lady at the make up counter with the drawn on smile

always seems inquisitive

but that just how she painted on eyebrows

must be easier that way

stare into the mirror and make your face assume whatever look will get you through the day

she seems happy even though her eyes tell a different tale as she hops between customers looking to make her quota

the pretty women come and spray perfume onto little white strips and smell deeply

not caring or unaware that once it mixes with the rot just under the surface the citrus and oils cannot mask the stench fully

my head is pounding from the overlit, saturated with cloying scents and dripping of desperate commerce

i reach for the pack of cigarettes i haven’t carried for so long in the lost hope of drowning out the smells

there are around a million shades of red lipstick on display

wonder how many of those i have kissed and smeared

not all that many i imagine

most of my ladies gave up after enough time with me or didn’t need to put it on or realized it was hopeless as i am one for long kisses no matter the location

or they quit because who were they trying to impress they already had a man that made them unhappy and more would just give them a headache like the one i have now

and who needs makeup when you can just apply a filter to the photo and send out an image of what you would look like if you took the time to care about such things

add some dog ears and stars for fucks sake

no one looks like who they are

the lady at the counter and her slowly melting eyebrows going from questioning to beaten

her waxy smile and sad eyes

all the people flocking around the counter looking for the next miracle that prevents aging or spackles in the cracks

i know i’m ugly but as a guy it is just something to live with

these poor fools seeking a solution for outer beauty to draw people in don’t know in the end it doesn’t matter

in the end it’s the face you wake up with not the van gogh you try to imitate

and truly in the end

some guy or his wife in a basement after sucking out your fluids and bagging your guts will just apply whatever they want to make you look like how you never looked sleeping anyway

it’s a billion dollar industry making paint for faces

i’ll take a fucked up smile and genuine emotion any day

probably why they don’t want to hire me to write an ad campaign