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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

Social Constructs Creatively Deconstructed:  

A Collection of Six Poems  

Taryn Bates 

Department of Sociology 

California State University, Los Angeles 
 
Author’s Acknowledgement: Dr. Lisa Montagne Galloway holds the honor of being the 
mentor who patiently encouraged Taryn into pursuing and attending higher education, 

correctly guessing that Taryn would thrive in academia.  

 

 

 

 

Cost of Living 
My currency 

Is energy  

Charged by the second 

 

My peace of mind 

A piece not mine 

Claimed by every fear 

 

My balance is overdrawn 

Ideals of saving-up forgone 

Checks constantly voided 

 

My daily wage lump sum 

Of living income  

Comes in with no proper credit



Poetry | Bates 2 

 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

The Masquerade of the Perfection Parade 
Paint up your faces and hide any traces 

of imperfection while you join in the races 

as we go through our paces- 

This festival façade is our lifetime legacy 

  

Where individuality is hidden 

Creativity, forbidden 

and all manner of originality is driven 

to seclusion in the illusion 

that perfection is the only presentation 

acceptable to make a friendly connection 

  

Mistakes will only lead others to say, 

"My goodness, what weakness they betray- 

too risky and messy,  

too childish to relay any sense of dignity and propriety 

so we piously look down our nose at any who suppose 

their misdeeds are forgivable and not taken personal 

as we lead the masses  

to flawless performance to all who glance our way." 

  

So then fear keeps us in line, 

convincing others that we're fine 

behind our masks 

tired eyes the only sign 

of our weariness doing time 

in hopes this fulfills our deepest wishes and longing 

to one day be thrown a rope and be pulled into freedom 

safely away from this chaos and madness 

to throw off crippling sadness 

and be shown genuine kindness 

that will clear away blindness 

our masks have led us in 

  

But the only rope we've been given 

binds us together in this prison 

of going through the motion 

to deceive each other in the notion  

that we are spotless 

and therefore- 

please love us.



Poetry | Bates 3 

 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

Pretty|Ugly (The Beast of Beauty) 
We've been taught to value patterns over people  

The carefully fabricated versus the naturally featured  

Smoothed out, glossed over, dolled up 

Youthful faces prematurely aged and grayed  

By the heavy expectations applied  

Around eyes, tweezed brows, hollowed cheeks  

Died hair, plumped lips, turned up noses  

Senses told to stop the function of design  

Composed behind plastered smiles reflected in  

Mirrors entreating to have a seamless surface  

Of contoured features concealing a raging inner turmoil  

 

The fountain of youth proves a siren's song  

Luring us to a superficial sound  

Drowning us in deep dissonance  

Evened out, painted over, propped up 

Exclusive is just a term to sell more magazines  

Not caring about the individual but the 

Masses  

Size is subject to scrutiny where anyone can weigh in  

But the one on the scale  

 

Silence is fool's gold, glittering in hollow glory  

Distracting from the internal distinction  

Screaming for attention  

But fearing it as well  

Wondering what will be the tipping point  

Of authentic acceptance  

If everything is stripped away  

And all that remains is plain as day  

Clearly seen  

Will the blunt edges be received with the truest intentions?  

 

Can vulnerability pull down walls of resistance  

Built from every stone cast in fear  

From an endless war on genuine integrity  

Because a whole and undivided force can't be reckoned with  

And control can't be cast out from the power hungry  

Indulging on every defenseless innocent  

A famine of fresh focus  

Perfection is the only permissible presentation



Poetry | Bates 4 

 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

School of Love 
Social Studies said we were the perfect match  

Then things changed and we found ourselves detached  

 

Math has never been my strong suit  

Why can't we make the figures compute?  

 

They say relationships are a Science  

Though they never detail the alliance  

 

Our Chemistry devolved in volatility  

Pressure, vaporizing equilibrium to futility  

 

We started to Artfully combine palettes  

But somewhere along the lines, we no longer synced talents  

 

English was our main communication  

Until we lost our common foundation  

 

A Physical Education filled in the gaps  

Preventing us from realizing our lapse  

 

We sought solace in Literature's plots  

Avoiding all the second thoughts  

 

Drama consumed our after hours  

Where barbs were thrown instead of flowers  

 

The pathways we traveled drifted away  

Geography now dictates our choices each day  

 

History is what the *Texts* book us as  

Those daily "hi"s, "goodbye"s, now stuck in the past  

 

So here I'm left, Creatively Writing out my soul  

An Essay on the effect of the emotional toll 

 

Invested 
Taking stock 

Of what I value 

Energy spent 

As time went 



Poetry | Bates 5 

 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

Bye 

The arrow 

Up and down 

Like a rollercoaster 

Track 

Cycling round and round 

There is nothing new 

Under the sun 

But still it's how we 

Keep 

Count of our days 

Averaging the data 

Tallying the points 

Finding purpose 

And meaning in the numbers 

Suggestions 

Of how the world really works 

How we echo each other 

Looking to each other for 

Directions 

Reliving the past 

Forgetting the present 

The future trapped in 

Projections 

Spending moments 

In hopes of a larger payout 

Playing the market 

In turn for the chance to 

Profit 

Audit our intentions 

Our perceptions 

My perspective 

What's worth it 

Am I doing this 

Right 

Risky business 

More manageable 

When the odds 

Are bet on 

Myself 

 



Poetry | Bates 6 

 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

The Great Deception 
One imagines at some point 

The idea of putting a price 

On everything would make it 

All fair 

And lower the odds 

Of deals going sideways 

Making a marker of honesty 

To compare 

That everyone had equal 

Opportunity to access 

Labor and goods 

To share 

Instead humans Capitalized on value 

Now being externally monetary 

Instead of intrinsically held 

And yet 

What was lost was the care for each other 

In community and consideration 

Only owing kindness & goodwill 

No debt 

Being held over each other through 

Greedy lusts of power 

And obsession with hoarding 

The net 

Sum of all things desirable 

Manufacturing scarcity of resources 

Just to be in ultimate control 

Bah Humbug 

To the scrooges who haven't 

Met the ghosts of those 

Whose lives they've impacted for worse 

So smug 

In not having a bone of generosity 

To give, live and let live freely 

Instead willfully indenturing and enslaving 

An amount 

So largely oppressed and mistreated 

By this perpetual patriarchy 

Not a nurturing nature to be saved but held 

To account



Poetry | Bates 7 

 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

Sociological importance for chosen pieces:  

I have been writing poetry and prose for over 20 years. 

Growing up, I was always on the outside looking in - having been 

homeschooled through all of grade school - which I have 

discovered works very well for the sociological imagination. As I 

came into adulthood and started branching out in the world, my 

writing reflected those changes and growth through more serious 

themes full of questioning. Now that I have been studying 

sociology for several years, I see so many sociological 

observations and imagination interwoven throughout my pieces. 

These selected pieces span the last decade. 

Cost of Living explores working a minimum wage job 

under the burden of capitalism, while experiencing alienation 

from oneself due to division of labor.  

The Masquerade of the Perfection Parade woke me up 

from a dead sleep, begging to be written. This piece investigates 

why humans conform to the same societal norms when they 

obscure individual authenticity. Masquerade further investigates 

imposter syndrome, fear of being found out to not measure up 

through never ending performance, while people are often hiding 

behind masks to fit cultural expectations. 

Pretty|Ugly (The Beast of Beauty) covers a cross section 

of cultural norms and capitalistic messaging. Marketing and social 

media present idealized images of the perfect, happy life to sell 

more products while typically leaving the buyer feeling empty and 

wanting more.  

School of Love studies romantic interpersonal 

relationships within the framing of school subjects or academic 

fields as an attempt at a whimsical yet poignant look at how 

im/maturity and societal expectations impact intimate 

relationships.  

The Great Deception and Invested were both written in 

2020, the former around the beginning of the COVID-19 

lockdown and the latter at the end of that tumultuous year. 

Invested was inspired by the thought "What if I was investing in 

MYSELF?"; another exploration of alienation and trying to 

reconnect with one’s own authenticity. Deception exposes a 

capitalistic mentality that over-values money instead of 

camaraderie.  


