Melville in Drag

Photo by Artem Gavrysh on Unsplash

There is nothing subtle about the paparazzi in this town
They grow more brazen by the day
Crouched and clicking their cameras at me like I’m Alec Baldwin or Cher
Right out in the open
On the street
Where I’m walking disguised and nonchalant in crowds
Or bent over retying a shoelace
Because people
They enjoy the stupidest things
Like funny videos of animals
And The Oscars

I flip them off
Middle finger raised defiant and obscene
To their encroaching lens

Shrugging
They smile mid-squat
Amused by the sight of it all
As they capture a perceived famous person doing something normal
For the quick eternity of a shot’s prismatic prison
Recognized for who I am not
Held un-dear and rustled
Locked in pose’s charm of whispered breath

“You are you. That is all. Not much else, Shit Head.”