cute sad
baby birds in a nest
above the door of the
laundry building
their saturday night
cries are both the cutest
and saddest thing
I’ve heard in a while
why are some things
sad but also cute?
is it because they’re
little bird babies
and they’re helpless?
is it because I don’t know
where the mother went
so late at night?
I see the sad in everything
it’s why I can’t handle
the sight of gerbils in a pet store
or a wailing squirrel in a tree,
stray cats who are lost
or old senile dogs
looking up at me…
the world is full of
adorable things destined
to suffer…
we were all cute once,
well maybe not all,
we are still ape-adjacent,
let’s not forget —
but the day eventually
comes when we begin
to call ourselves ugly
— and no one thinks
we deserve the same kind
of sympathy anymore —
when we are no longer children
we are truly punished for our sins…
and it’s the ugly defendants
who are more likely to go to jail…
the handsome employees
are more likely to get raises…
I’m just spitballing these stats here,
but, really, who can deny that the halo effect
is a thing? it permeates everything…
no one gives the benefit of the doubt
to a rough hewn face…
wrinkles and jowls, baldness
or too much hair where it shouldn’t be,
crooked teeth, acne scars,
droopy eyelids, weak little chins
— when will we ever see beyond all this?
when will a person be considered
for more than the sum of their physical traits?
you know, just the other day…
