Smile like you mean it

Can a smile be faked?

If the mouth’s muscles

in the morning ache,

bulging from a night-time

workout

negotiated on

ground-down teeth.

They say,

“Say cheese!”,

yet muscles frozen

at the hairpin corners

of the jaw —

resist.

And even when

these muscles succumb

(to social etiquette)

and are dragged into place

the dull numbness

glazing your eyes

doesn’t fool me.

A smile

cannot exist

under instruction.

It emerges only

subconsciously,

automatically,

when —

you really

don’t mean it

at all.