With a lens, we try to capture a feeling.

The sunset’s vivid, vivacious colors

Replicated in pixels,

Reproduced on a tiny, fluorescent screen.

 

Scroll.

Three seconds.  

Like.  Scroll.  Repeat.

We say we’ve seen the sunset, but have we?

 

The image we see is forged,

The lens’s imitation of a natural wonder.

The lens doesn’t capture

the chill of the ocean’s wind

the hair flying around our necks

and standing on our arms.

It doesn’t capture

the distant call of the seagulls,

the soothing crash, crash, crash of the waves,

the ice cream truck’s last tune of the day.

It doesn’t capture

the smell of the salty air,

the raw stench of low tide

holding nostalgia of childhood summers.

 

Only if we lift our noses from behind the screen

can we truly see a world with #nofilter.

 

**This poem doesn’t quite fit with the theme of the “#nofilter” slam, but it was inspired by this topic. While it doesn't directly describe me, it does convey my views directly, "without filters," so I hope you'll still consider it!