Selective Attention

By Riley Sullivan

I’m not safe.

I’m not as safe as I like to believe I am,

I like believing I can protect myself from that, from those things.

I often wonder if it’s more important that I keep believing,
that I avoid peeling off my many, many masks to meet these demons squarely.

I’m curious about my face, my plain face unshielded.

What is the texture of my skin?

I won’t save myself this way.