The Real Selfie?
by Odin Roark

How stealth its presence
forever concealing surprises.
reasons of compassion or malice?

One’s fear or lack of,
justified or not,
begs explanation
"I suggest a ‘Hi' for starters,
having never been formally introduced.

"You know,
though we gaze at each other over our neighborly fence,
we've kinda brought this on ourselves,
the estrangement, I mean.

"We're like a brotherly reality
meets imagination’s independence,
our very own ‘deer in the headlights' moment kind of thing,
and we just stare at each other speechless and embarrassed.

“Like pigeons fighting over a French fry.
or pall bearers hefting
a flower-laden casket
into a hearse about to
deliver duty-bound to another future passing,
we seem stifled as to what’s next,
what’s for us?

“Idling destroys the moment, ya know?

“It's all so exhausting,
this waiting around for the future,
blind trust promising there’s something better out there,
when all the while, there's so much good air hangin' around,
just dyin' to get sucked up...
right now.

“So...

Here we stand in our house of mirrors.
like I said, 'Hi.'
Probably time we got acquainted, eh?
Care to look? Really look?
Ready to meet the real selfie,
the one you won’t feel compelled to send viral?"