confidence

Confidence,
it’s under there.

It decorates that otherwise
definition-lacking formation,
the curvature that edges
only make more pronounced.

it’s growth,
an emotional stability
that removal tends to
shake.

it’s a standoff,
the protests that never were
attended,
but secretly find such affirmation
and camaraderie.

it’s a dictionary of redefinition,
the logic of gender moulded
into cells that accumulate
visibly redder than the blood
I know exists just millimeters below.

I could remove it,
yes,
and not change
but physically.

I am more than a wearer.
I am more than a leftist adherer.
I am more than a conformer.
I am more than a masculine expression.

Confidence,
it’s under here.