I just feel allergic being someone else, i’m not that good an actress
I was never told to love me
I grew up with spikes as skin
Hidden under the overlays of mascaras
Birthed with the idea that remixing my skin would buy acceptance
The green card I always needed
So I became caged bird
Confined in the bars of self-pretence
I tied my worth into acute brows and rainbow faces
I was unpleasant music
A noise in serenity
All I needed was a kiss blown from the lips of the inner me
But they were a mashup of contours and blushes
I felt that little drifting would guarantee trophy
I thought blending in would make me sell
And though it did in a bit…
I lost nature like missing period
Searched for inner peace like misplaced identity
And all I found was chaos constructed by pillars of peer pressure
But bare became teacher
Taught me that all I needed was faith
Faith to be me
Faith to walk on wind with pride as wings
So go tell them
That I am more tasteful than fine liquor
And I slay in pictures be it fashion or boudoir
Tell them I am ok with the digit of my figure
Be it 8 or 84
Tell them that I am music
Not the type they wanted me to be
But the type nature endorses
The type I feel safe in
My spikes are turned shades
And I flirt with my color
No need for shuffle cos I’ll put my skin on repeat
Dance to my heartbeat
Bare as i can be
Muse – Utiangbeshie Alawa
Utiangbeshie alawa is an amateur fine artist who in her own words tripped and fell into sciences, she’s a radiographer in the making
Photographer – Otome Onoge