The American Way

The TV said you aren't cool if you don't shop at the mall, And drive a fancy car.

You need wholesale windows and chewing gum.

I got rid of cable.

I only watch movies from the public library.

I am not cool enough or trendy enough,

Because I dare to look outside of the box.

I do product research.

I found a mushroom that will cure cancer,

And discovered that snail mucus prevents wrinkles.

Processed food and Botox are what's in,

And God lives inside the television.

I don't question the adjustability of my mattress I just sleep on it.

I wear sunscreen and stay as pale as possible.

Other women use tanning beds,

And will look like leather handbags when they get older.

My purse cost under $50 and I have had it for three years.

Coach purses confuse me; $300 for one purse?

I don't see what makes it so special,

And why you have to buy the newest one right when it comes out.

You, too, can hoard $300 purses to impress friends and family.

I have a $30 watch that I rarely wear.

I bought it because my old watch stopped working,

And because it was purple.

This watch is the most expensive item of jewelry that I own.

I don't understand why your watch has to match your outfit and your shoes each day.

This is a trend that I do not have the time for.

It takes to much effort to color coordinate everything.

Maybe I value my sleep more than others.

I must look less put together.

All I see is overpriced trendy stuff.

It makes my brain hurt.

I fall into the thrift store gap.

Does it make people like me less?

How dare I wear clothing and accessories from last season?

I purchase everything I wear at thrift stores.

I have my own sense of style and embrace it.

Magazines don't teach me how to dress.

I choose what I like and that is what I wear.

I don’t follow what everyone else tells me is cool or in style.

I don’t do fads.

I am too smart to follow someone else’s direction.

I seek my own answers in any given situation.

We live in a world of overpriced manicures, purse dogs, and eyebrow waxing salons.

But what is beauty, if you don't have a beautiful soul?

You can buy all the products out of all the magazines and they could make your skin break out.

Or you could spend $10 to buy one product from Korea that fixes all your skin issues.

I am so far out of the box, that I shop other countries.

I find the answers to the questions I can't find on American soil.

Why do our products have harmful ingredients in them?

When these same ingredients are outlawed in other countries because of their poor effects on skin?

Am I the only one that reads ingredient labels?

But what is beauty, if you don't have a beautiful soul?

And why are those who ask questions looked down upon?

Why is it a curse to be intelligent?

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This poem is featured in the poetry collection "Passing Skeletons".

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