Honesty. That’s all I want.

An honest start, an honest end.

Harsh and raw, cutting, and blunt.

Honest question, honest answer.

No meandering. No excuses.

Honest word, honest phrase.

Criticism, word or praise.

I need an answer, not a compliment,

How can I grow on the base of lies?

How can I improve with a foundation incised?

I need someone to hurt my feelings—

Disregard emotion, constantly reeling

Cease to be fragile, impend me with revision.

I need honesty, honestly—

I dug up this poem from a journal entry from last October. It has renewed meaning right now, and I feel like it perfectly expresses what I want and need. I guess I’ve been trusting people too easily here. It would just be so much simpler if people would be brave enough to tell the truth and not hide behind masks.