Pretenders

Let’s pretend happiness in matching turquoise 

and white mother/daughter dresses,

while he snarled, “Smile, dammit!” 

behind the camera.

Let’s pretend a perfect family, while

she laid on the couch with migraines, 

he growled into his martinis,

and I gasped for air under a thick brick of icy tension 

that squished us into perfect paper cutout dolls.

Let’s pretend closeness in separate rooms, 

and strained and shallow conversations at dinner.

Let’s pretend everything I did was wrong, 

that your broken marriage was all my fault.

Let’s pretend I could fix it.

published in Sonnets to Sing