Image Source (cropped and edited by me)

Chameleon

I don't belong here
Not in this world
Of strangers
Speaking to them
In their tongue
As if I were one of them
As if I could just
Shed my skin
And be myself
My true self
Unhindered
By judgment
From them
From their God
From me...
As if reflections could lie

I lie
Bending the truth
Like a prism does light
Masking my insecurities
And my appearance
To their expectations
Blending
Into blurred backgrounds
Obscuring my existence
Using my gift
To trick their eyes
Becoming invisible
Becoming... beautiful

This poem was inspired out of a request for a prompt that I did on d.buzz and Twitter. When I haven't written in a while, I will call for inspiration in the form of a picture and see what I get. This time several people answered the call. I decided to go with the first photo that was suggested by @anthonyadavisii. Now, I didn't end up using that actual pic. You never know where these inspirations will take you and the finished poem didn't really match the pic at all, but it was definitely the spark.

The submission was a pic of the Geico gecko. It made me think of the absurd thought of a lizard living in a human world and the social aspects of that. It was a lie. He was not being what he was supposed to be...then again maybe the same could be said of the lizard world. It made me think of human interactions, even my own insecurities.

Not too long ago, I was going through a bit of a depression and I came up with the thought that this world isn't a good fit for me. I felt as if I have to make adjustments in order to fit in. I think we all do to certain extents. So a lot of that came out in this poem. We are all chameleons of sorts. We all change ourselves in one way or another to adjust to our societies. Regardless of how much we change or don't, the end result is always beautiful.

Please let me know how the poem made you feel. I appreciate any comments you may have. Bold