Monologue for a Figurine (Poem)

You remove me from my packaging, 

Sit me up on a shelf, 

And orient me just right,

You evaluate my stand, 

Not seeing the frailty of 

The stand you set yourself upon.

Not noticing how high you have 

Placed yourself. If it fails, 

  You will fall and shatter.

You admire my paint job, gasping at imperfections. 

Yet you do not notice, 

The sloppy paint job you gave yourself.

Your true colors are easily seen, 

And as the paint peels off, 

More gets revealed than before.

You carefully brush the dust off me. 

Silly human, can't you feel, 

The mounds of dust and dirt

That you have let build upon you? 

You are unable, 

Or perhaps unwilling

To shake it off 

Or to have someone else 

Help you get clean.

You move me down to another shelf, 

A lower place that is more humble. 

Perhaps it is time for you to move

From that high shelf you placed yourself on. 

Perhaps it is time to move down 

To a lower shelf with the rest.

Notes:

In the past, I took a creative writing course where many assignments were to read an existing poem and then write one of our own. There were no rules otherwise, and technically the poem written after didn't have to resemble the poem we read before. This poem was penned after reading the much better Monologue for an Onion by Suji Kwock Kim, which can be found online easily if you would like to check it out.