swiping in six parts

i.

swipe right to achieve candy crush
stardom; swipe left for loneliness
sometimes I scroll through dating
apps looking for myself , rather
than for the one because it’s
harder to look in the mirror

ii.

dating app talk is beyond me
“superlike” someone today like
your favourite fantasy novel
you read on the playground
find out who liked you to boost
your self-esteem because you
can’t even see
the real you anymore

iii.

swiping through dating apps
makes you yearn for the days
people met up IRL and actually
got to know each other
organically rather than in a
fake, made-up constructed way
sext your latest pictures
selfie galore – as you prostitute
your sense of self growing
tired of identifying as a
BIPOC disabled artist that
can’t even get work

iv.

when will I get my white picket
fence and my slew of babies
to keep in my rent-a-storage
like the life I’d probably lead
overcrowded boxes of books
without bookshelves to
alphabetize; ordering my things
to avoid the reality of the problem

v.

will I ever be ready for conventional
tendencies older than my parents?
|as I swipe right for them instead
of for myself because the pressure
to mate is wearing on my decrepit
body; when will my time come?
I ask myself as I watch friends grow
into their houses and children

vi.

I’ve outgrown conventional
lifestyles – any excuse to tell
myself why I don’t have a partner
or children to call my own
I can only swipe left for loneliness
maybe I’m not destined for candy
crush stardom or life consisting
of heteronormative social constructs