i am perfect.

better phrased, i am THE perfect.

i smile when people walk by me

i make casual conversation

i listen to “normal” music

there is nothing strange about me

nothing WRONG with me.

other people are not perfect

and they are looked down upon 

for that very notion

they listen to weird music

they don’t give people “the smile”

maybe they will open their lips

and show their teeth

but they don’t give the one

that they’re supposed to give

they don’t wear the clothes 

that they’re supposed to wear

but i am not like that

the other day i was cursed

i visited my hometown

and saw my friend

i did not know that we would be going out

and i was unprepared

she asked me why it mattered

but i couldn’t explain

i wasn’t wearing perfect clothes

i did not bring my 5 varieties of perfumes

or shower with my 2 different kinds of soaps

i did not do my complicated skin care routine

so i smiled extra hard

i was pristinely polite

i tried to be as perfect as possible

but alas they saw right through me

they saw the savage woman

who was clearly hiding something

they saw the filthy little girl

who could kill them at any second

who ate land spices

and held mass weaponry

to destroy them all

they saw the foreign lady

who lived in a stolen mansion

who could hack into their bank accounts

and would eat their kids for breakfast

my skin had peeled back

a wolf in sheep’s clothing

perfect dee was gone 

deepali had emerged 

i walked to the restroom

heart racing as fast as possible

a perfect man walked by me

i tried to smile in my gray fur

but he stared right through my canines

it needed to have the matching skin

and i froze feeling the same fear that they felt

would his fear truly burn so unbearably

that he would eradicate my kind?

i come back to school

i wake up early to shower 

with my 6-step hygiene routine 

have i mentioned my perfumes?

i walk by a woman

i am wearing my pristine white clothing

i smile the perfect smile 

she smiles back

and for a second i am perfect

except for one thing