Tinsel Star

By Manoj Vaz Ramchandran

The bright flashes followed her soul,

She posed but the anguish strode on,

The world shone but her mind ran foul,

Like swarming wasps in a race bygone.

No matter how her tears were shed,

In the confines of her velvety bed,

No matter how hard she screamed,

They were always trapped in her head.

As she sold herself at the human mart,

The sea became her embodied quilt,

Waves crashing heavily in her heart,

Drowning her conscience in a sea of guilt.

The weight of perfection scaled her gain,

Her eyes betrayed the contrived smile,

Her soft lips cracked by a lifetime of pain,

While retching and tasting human bile.

The sea lured her as it had always done,

The waves serenaded her as fate frowned,

The battle of stardom she had won,

But her breath in the abyss, drowned.

By Manoj Vaz Ramchandran