Faking of the Faking

This poem is about the loss of authenticity: when performance replaces presence, imitation becomes identity, the form gets divorced from the content and the original value is lost for the sake of an empty shell of an imitation.

Superficial. Synthetic.
Mass-market. Soulless.
Disconnected. Artificial.
Commodified.

Fake.

There’s no problem with
faking it until you make it
as long as you know
what is the faking
and what is the making.

The problem with
faking until you make it
Is not the faking
It’s the not knowing the difference
between the faking and the making.

How do you know
if you’re faking the making
or faking the faking?
What is it that you’re making
if you’re faking the faking?

If you’re faking the faking
then both the faking
and the making
are fake.
Even if you make it,
you’re still fake.

Lost. Confused. Conflicted.
Contradicted. Scattered. Distracted.
Disordered. Misplaced. Misdirected.
Impotent. Limp. Weak.

You can’t fake integrity.
You can’t fake connection.
You can’t fake love.
You can’t fake energy.
You can’t fake life.

You have to make it.

A performance is not life.
If your life is ninety percent faking
then maybe that’s why
you’re addicted and depressed
Because you’re eating compost
and calling it a salad.

When your life is hundred percent fake
Then the making feels like magic.
The making feels like the faking.
Even if it’s the making of the faking.

But here’s the bigger problem:
The faking wounds the making.
Fake damage is still damage.
Fake trash is still trash.
Fake leaders are still leaders.
Illusions leave more than bruises.

Faking of the faking is death.