Forget the #Valencia

I remember growing up in front of a camera.

Nothing fancy, you know?

Like the ones you've seen at your local Walgreens.

The lightweight disposable cameras,

with films you can’t erase.

Just one click and the moment was captured.

Pictures of cheesy up close smiles or a child’s disaster.

But now we’re in 2015,

a world so advanced in technology,

We look for perfection and flawlessness.

Cameras installed in our mobile devices.

We've become so adept and best friends with alien terms

such as ISO, Filters and Megapixels.

Nowadays we don’t just look up and say “CHEESE!”

We say: “ Hold on, wait please! Tilt the camera just a little like this!”

Now that’s what we call a good pic!

But what if we had never advanced to times like this, what would we see?

Wipe off all of the make up and forget the Valencia,

revealing all of our imperfections and blemishes.

Why can’t we just accept that we look like this?

The web is infested with fakes we call “catfish,”

only because we’re afraid of what people might think of our true flesh.

But I will no longer conceal who I am.

I am a nineteen year old girl, perfectly imperfect.

With sensitive skin and scars that tell stories.

This is me and I will expose who I am, because

celebrities too use filters in selfies and are part of this world wide scam.

So I’m tossing the veil and letting my hair down.

This is me at my purist and I am ready to smile now.

I will no longer tilt my head at an angle avoiding the side 

for my pointy nose to be latent and hide.

I will embrace every deficiency, from the flap in my ear, to the crook in my choppers,

my uneven hairline and big buck teeth.

Beauty is only skin deep, haven’t you heard?

There is more than meets the eye of this oblivious world.

Look into my eyes and I can tell you,

you’ll see a girl full of ambition, that girl is me.

Now if you look into my eyes don’t get lost in it’s reflections,

look deep into my soul where you will see a genuine depiction.