We Are All Filtering Reality Away
By Ethan Murray
Just as earlybirds rise from the willow
to find lo-fi toasters floating
across the twittersphere,
somewhere in December
New Yorkers are
mayfaired across the Hudson.
Wintry chills blurred
away with Tahitian ghosts
and Jay Alvarez
soul surfing
across the interweb. A linked oasis
creating a façade in Arizona’s
desert horizon. Where
reality and the online collide,
clashing together
until one becomes both.
Valencia summers dipped
in the inkwell are commonly
mistaken for the Sierras, pale skin
saturated in tan paint, teeth whitened
beyond bleachability.
We’ve all become hipsters.
Nashvilles and Brooklyns—
yesterday’s slumber, a VSCO cycle
Of gentrification in perpetua.
Waistlines slowly dwindle,
cropped away
like excess baggage
to avoid weighing too much
in airport lines.
We hit refresh
on our lives,
counting likes to
measure mortality,
seconds spent
drain the breath
from our batteries.
One photo at a time, please.