Begging by a million names,
A fix for the cost of dignity

In the wearing of a thousand faces,
True north gets lost by tide

To be oneself requires discernment
Through madness and through mood

A staying of course beyond the currents
That pull us to and fro.

Facebook has taken a break –
Now the darker side of me begins to emerge
As I struggle to remember birthdays without a nudge.

I can’t throw shade at an ex on X anymore,
As I’m deprived of the mindless scrolling, that feeds
A sickening eye on open to doubt Instagram feeds.

The relentless ticking of time feels slower
Without TikTok, and now I’m left to view my own
Insecurities without the distraction of YouTube.

We're attached to the screens
Like we're conjoined by them
Our lives drain before our eyes
As we drown in the Internet lies

As our fingers move in the scrolling motion
We're addicted to their anger-provoking emotions
And we stare at photo-shopped celebrities with love and lust
Wishing that they were ugly and sad like us

We'll text, but leave no message at the tone
All our pregiven love and time we loan
And when we're all scrolling, we're all alone
But we don't notice because we're on the phone

I spy
with my little eye,
something beginning with I.
I wonder
if the kids younger
than I, know what it is to wonder.

To dream
of all that's unseen
and the places they've never been.
When sat
do they know how to relax
with just their thoughts as they plait,

their hair
or ears of a teddy bear
adding a bow for a flair,
to see
all their creativity
at the age of only three.

And how
parents let them plough
through screens without
a notion
that this motion
is only just a token

gesture
undress her
she's no saviour.
As she
believes the he
is here to set her free.

Romanticise
see the prize
a body plasticised.
Naïvety
meant to be
girls don't you see.

Plastic
elastic  
please don't be sarcsatic,
she dreams
to be
the perfect thing to see,

but don't you see
it's not meant to be
she.
That girl of only three
now forever ****** to be,

Perfect.

A statement
not a standard,
so please don't do this to her.
Ignore her
for her
one day she'll thank ya'.

I spy,
with my little eye,
someone. Who wants to cry

“Sticks and stones …” the familiar saying goes
but words hurled in anger
are as sharp as a needle or sword:
the pen is mightier
and can cut to the core.

So, choose the words you write with care
as the wounds from your words
can fester and scar.

Instead,
use your words to praise,
to console,
to declare your love,
for those words
are the most powerful
and feed the soul.

A constant need
for the likes, the followers
the hundreds of friends, all claiming to care
a sense of unity, of togetherness
maybe you'll find your soulmate,
maybe you'll find a best friend
a place of false advertising,
distorted body image,
and fake smiles
a place of late night chats, forbidden love,
of stalkers and bullies and insensitivities
like a drug, consuming your mind
filling your days, filling your nights
putting a filter on the world,
but life’s not so black and white
those behind the screen
just need a place to be heard, to be seen
their constant urge to belong, to be loved
like an addiction,
an addiction called social media

F* you social media
for all the times you claimed to be safe,
when in fact you were the opposite
for all the little girls you made believe they would never be enough
for all the boys you told they weren't allowed to be vulnerable
for putting people on pedestals,
when they are just the same as everyone else
for anyone who you brought more pain than joy
for anyone who's life was consumed by you
for anyone who took their life because of you
for anyone who feels alone, because you
made them feel disconnected from others
for anyone who's become addicted to your lies
f*you for ruining lives and manipulating minds
for everything you've ever done to corrupt
this world,
and especially for thinking it's ok

No matter how hard you try,
No matter how much you give,
You’ll never mean a **** to me,
You made your bed,
Now lay in it.
I love you.
Please tell me you miss me.