Romanticise

By Amirah Datwani

it’s hard to live in the era of lies

but after all, what is it to romanticise?

everything i see tells me to be like them

to spend scalding summers in twinkling sand

and when september rolls around

focus on the autumn leaves on the ground

not the death and war and dysfunction 

or how at any minute, your heart could stop beating.

i’m buried under papers and numbers

you should be like that girl in the tv show: climb all those levels

it isn’t murder, it’s red wine and a mafia husband

death? do you mean porcelain skeletons?

old money and billionaire romance

it makes us forget what the real world is

you only see bows on women with white skin

all we’re doing is putting a spin on it

to cover up the darkness, we romanticise

but there will always be cold beneath our eyes

Rationale: A poem about how the tendency to romanticise everything has become harmful, showcasing the effects of toxic positivity and how over-romanticisation has led to unrealistic expectations for people.