So I hear you need a rebel-- or maybe
someone to just hear you out. I like your profile,
your bio, the blurbs you write about your life--
but tell me more about you.
How do you break down your personality
01101101 01100101
into 140 characters or less?
May I suggest we meet face-to-face? Video chat
tomorrow at 5:00, sure, but that's not
what I meant.
I don't want the pixels, the lag, the type face, the webcam-filtered,
LED monitor dating profile.
I want the flesh,
the bone, unedited-- the words before they're deleted
and perfected to the point where you finally feel
comfortable enough to hit
Enter.
But you can't "put yourself out there" if you don't get out.
I want you beyond the screen, disconnected from the Internet
connections and matchmaking engines, filling up the tank
and searching for yourself.
I want you, bumbling and goofy, your foot nervously
tapping as we make awkward eye contact, gazing
not into machines and technology but into
pure, unadulterated life.
I haven't written in a long time, but here's something that found its way onto a piece of paper while I worked in an empty stockroom. Very much a first draft.