American Idol

 Not that you didn’t win, but rather
the performance when you were who you are
and had the courage to be just that.

Judgement is a terrible moment, a photo
of an open mouth, deer eyes looking askew at
that distant, unattainable star, the street

down which you vanished irradiated
with a billion opinions lacking resolution.

It’s not that you didn’t perform,

it’s that when the song ended and the lights
failed, I saw myself in the mirror of you
and I wasn’t changed.