TUNE ME UP

TUNE ME UP

Verse 1
Powdered courage, borrowed light,
I draw a steady midnight line.
Every eyelid – goodbye, slight,
a quiet sever with each design.
Contour maps a safer face,
highlights ghost the rest away;
I airbrush out the empty space
where my own pulse used to play.

(tense, rising)

Pre- Chorus
I say, “Tune me up, keep me flawless.”
I hear, “Turn me down, keep me harmless.”
The mirror sings a pretty lie,
and I’m scared how clean it lies.

(explode and pulled back)

Chorus
Tune me up – make me shiny, make me small,
turn the volume of my living to a wall.
These lips? Property of the chemical industry,
bar-coded kisses under patent custody.
Tune me up – smooth my edges, trim my scream,
sand the grief until it looks like cream.
If I look perfect, will I disappear enough?
Tune me, tune me, tune me up.

(soft again)

Verse 2
Cheap-white light in a rented room,
latex hands and a metal bloom;
a discount doc with a coupon smile –
“no refunds, babe,” if I bruise a while.
Breath held tight for the promised lift,
gravity stitched like a contraband gift.
My breasts ache where the bargain bit;
this cut-rate courage – yeah, it hurts to fit.

(cutting, syncop)

Pre- Chorus
I say, “One more touch – just fix the rest.”
I hear, “Mute the chaos beating in my chest.”
Beauty’s algorithm learns my fear
and feeds me ads that look like prayer.

(hard/soft)

Chorus
Tune me up – make me glossy, make me tame,
wrap the thunder in a pretty name.
These lips? Property of the chemical industry,
lab-made roses, rented intimacy.
Tune me up – hide the fracture, paint it brave,
pose the avalanche to look well-behaved.
If I shine brighter, will it hurt less, love?
Tune me, tune me, tune me up.

(whisper vs. roar call-and-response)

Bridge
(whisper) I am here. (roar) ERASE IT.
(whisper) Hold me near. (roar) REPLACE IT.
(whisper) Skin is home. (roar) SKIN’S A MASK.
(whisper) Breathe in slow. (roar) DON’T YOU ASK.
I kiss the mirror till I’m numb,
a sugar-sweet, industrial hum –
soft like velvet, mean like rust;
every glow conceals the dust.

(intimate)

Verse 3
Some nights the quiet cracks like glass,
and echoes run on little legs.
I don’t notice how my weather casts
its long, cold shadow through their beds.
My inner war, unfiled, unfixed,
leaks under doors in lullabies;
small hands learn a hidden script –
to paint a face that never cries.

(final defiant)

Chorus (reprise)
Tune me up – make me subtle, make me loud,
teach me smiling like a passing cloud.
These lips? Property of the chemical industry,
I sign in gloss – another vacancy.
Tune me up – but when the morning shakes,
my children wear the tremor that I make.
If I look perfect, have I given up?
Tune me – no, tune me back –
tune me in, not up.

(outro, fading)

Outro
Powder down, the mirror’s done;
who’s this face I’ve overrun?
If love is louder than this hush,
let the paint drip, break the brush.
Where my name was, write it slow:
“Not for sale. Returned to owner.”
If silence asks me who I was –
I answer, “Mother.”
I answer, “Whole.”

---

TUNE ME UP