The Shadowland Poem by Papillion Hejduk

She is wire
Easily bent and twisted
Molded and shaped by uncaring hands.
She’s a coat hanger under the clothes
She’s a bird in a gilded cage
Unable to fly with one broken wing
Her screams only faintly heard
She patiently waits for a key
She is blinded by unshed tears
Terrified to let even one fall
Less others should sense imperfection
Her most recent purchase was at the “GAP KIDS”
Although she is sixteen years old
Weir-like and innocent, shrunken breasts, hips and thighs
She patiently waits for a key
Undeserving of life’s simple pleasures
Seized by terror
When she opens her mouth jaws bound and clenched
Hammered with fear
She recently forgot how to chew
Intent to secure her shrunken self
She learned how to lie in a day
With a cross of her fingers behind her back
She falsely proclaims she ate today
Transparent skin that barely contains her delicate package of bones
Only when voices that care sound louder then the person in the mirror
Will this hollow eyed former shadow of self
Summon the courage to grow
The reflections that screams a magical number
Determines the worth of this slave to the gods of perfection