Unmasked (and unrelated)

I pretend

to pretend.

Like a monster

on Halloween,

I take off my mask.

No one notices,

no one believes

monsters might exist.

                      

I glide through throngs

of paltry masqueraders.

I am safely hidden

by all of their masks.

So, I stretch my jaw

for the first time in a year,

and I shake my hide

to loosen sweat slicked fur.

The night is mine

to have my way with.

When you take off

the wizard cap

And set down

the scarlet pitchfork,

I slip out of the night

and back into a skin

too thin                                                           

to last.