«That moment when charades becomes a lifestyle…» — Summary

That moment when charades becomes a lifestyle because you can't voice your opinion When you keep glasses on so no one knows who you are Physical mental emotional scars People guess and try to figure out what your doing because you can't say It's like being a mime Your face painted walking through the hall of your school You don't get all of attention because you're not "cool" And when people see you they see "that freak" from school Your grouped with the "different" kids The one who wears all the black The one who's an Attention Seeker Just because he can't actually be a Speaker It's all apart of the game though And so you're told When deep down you know

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Morales writes about what it feels like to be unable to speak up and to be judged for it anyway. The speaker compares their daily life to charades and to being a mime: people have to guess at what they mean, and the guesses are usually wrong. Wearing glasses so no one knows who you are, and walking the school hall with a "painted" face, both suggest hiding behind a mask. The poem also mentions scars, though it doesn't say where they come from.

The hurt comes from labels. Classmates see "that freak," lump the speaker in with the "different" kids, or call them an attention seeker, when the speaker simply can't be a "Speaker." The poem hints that silence is being mistaken for a personality.

The mood is lonely and quietly frustrated. The last lines, "It's all apart of the game" and "when deep down you know," trail off without finishing the thought. That leaves a sense of something the speaker knows but can't say, which fits the poem's whole point.

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