Poetry About Masks

In painted wood above a theatre door, masks finds a visible shape. A face hidden during carnival carries what ordinary speech leaves unfinished. Between elastic warming behind the ears and a smile practiced for the office, the heart learns to listen. Concealment can protect, perform, deceive, or reveal, though the day rarely says so aloud. By night, the uncovered mirror after midnight becomes a promise rather than an ending.

A face hidden during carnival enters the poem first. Masks follows, neither symbol nor explanation, but weather. A smile practiced for the office keeps the difficult measure. We stand near painted wood above a theatre door and let certainty loosen. Concealment can protect, perform, deceive, or reveal. The uncovered mirror after midnight remains after the room grows quiet.

Someone remembers elastic warming behind the ears. Someone else names painted wood above a theatre door and means an entire life. Masks moves between them with patient hands. A face hidden during carnival refuses to become only background. Concealment can protect, perform, deceive, or reveal. At last, the uncovered mirror after midnight gives the silence somewhere to rest.