eating away at yourself

have you ever considered
how as we chew on the dead skin on our lips
we're biting away at our old selves
literally chewing on our own flesh that we've deemed useless,
superfluous

have you ever considered
how as we scrub ourselves down in the shower
washing away the dirt and grime of the day
we wash away small fragments of ourselves
down into the drain
along with all our hopes and dreams
our dead skin trickles down with the soap suds, swept away,
we are left squeaky clean and yet also,
slightly reduced

as we pull and tug at our skin
does it also mirror how we seem to want to stretch out of ourselves
rearrange our inclinations, like how we
attempt to redo our faces,
piling on the make up, powder, foundation
never quite happy with what we were born with,
pin pricks to pimples,
squeezing, tweezing away our features
leaving much less to be
desired

have you ever considered,
how much of cannibals we are, eating away at ourselves, more so than we do others
biting remarks, snide thoughts
automatic, negative, self-destructive
and we don't even realise how much
the chewing and consistent gnawing comes not from anyone or anywhere else but ourselves