By Jon Ferry
On stage or in politics,
nothing is quite as it seems.
It’s either euphoria
or a series of bad dreams.
It’s the same with the human smile.
It either lights up the room
or is tight and forced … like that
of a cold, reluctant groom.
There’s the gentle, wistful smile
with the sad look in the eyes,
and the sarcastic grin that
usually provokes a rise …
or the enigmatic smirk
of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa
that leaves viewers as conflicted
as Hawaiian pizza.
Or there's the full-on high beam
you get every once in a while
when you board a jam-packed plane
or slink down a grocery aisle.
But the smile that I like best is
when the dude in the cowboy hat
confronts the villain and says ...
smile when you call me that.