If eyes are windows, then my mouth is a door. Without a spare key, you see. I open on my terms, in my time, with my words, you're watching me. Gaze sliding like railways on a track, just back and forth, back and forth, head back like a Mumbai local in Russia. I can see you standing, my swirling, his questions, joss of stepping on toes, no apologies. And you hold onto one thought like a pocket of oxygen. You say it, allowed in your head. You say it, allowed in your head, and then you say it, allowed. You're so shy. I don't know what you expect me to reply, but you don't know the half of it. So I'll admit, conversation is like walking through a forest, wearing high heels and a tight skirt, struggling to stand as your shoes in tangles and creepers and cobwebs and puddles you weren't meant to fall into. I am shy, and I know that alone is a magic mist showing different things to different people. My singular coffee cup is not an invitation. Please don't think, I need a shoulder to cry on. I have two already, thanks, they carry me well. I am shy, and I know that alone must mean I'm hotty, looking at you with that silent, judgmental stare. Writing a notebooks makes me hipster. Checking my phone makes me shallow. Reading makes me pseudo-intellectual. I am shy, so my perspective is written for me. I'm romanticized, fetishized, objectified. So let me set the record straight. I'm shy, like a leopard in a jungle that only comes out when she wants to. When you chase her, your camera's catch blurry images of a creature that doesn't give a damn about your new cannon lens. I'm shy, like dark clouds that can sometimes spring into tornadoes of voice. Although tornadoes live for only 10 minutes, they can connect heaven with earth and will kill you. I'm shy, like the sun. You see, I keep a distance that doesn't fit your narrative, but the truth is I'm too powerful for you to get close. If my eyes are windows as the cliché's decree, then my mouth is a door that opens when I want. And if it opens for you, congratulations. I'm shy, showing a little respect would be good for your health. Thank you.