I never meant to use a filter

I didn’t think I did.

Look at me and tell me what you see

You’ll say,

I see black hair and brown eyes

I know you’re Asian.

Chinese, right?
Just by saying this you look at me 

from a different view.

I could have been anyone at the start of this poem

but now I can only be some

I don’t hide behind a blinding filter 

don’t pretend like you know me

I come down hot and raw

because you know what beauty is and I don’t have it.

I look into the mirror and I see 

spots, pimples, hairs, disgusting things that

We treat, We cover, We pluck.

But I’m distracting you

Distracting you from what the real problem is.

If you were reading these words on paper, would you think I was a boy?

No, because I mentioned beauty. I must be

female, vain, trite.

You gave me a filter. 

I’m a girl, I’m asian, I’m ugly, and have low self esteem.

I never meant to use a filter

I didn’t think I did,

but you did.