us, obsolete

- kumail changezi

if my face were 4.95 inches,

and in each of these inches,

instead of blemishes and pores,

were five-thirty-eight pixels,

would you look at me?

if my voice were polyphonic,

and instead of whispering,

interrupted

meetings, funerals, and family picnics,

would you listen to me?

if my body were an alloy,

and my hair,

and my curves,

and my scars,

and the dead skin flakes

were all replaced

by a bio-metric fingerprint scanner,

would you touch me?

if my rib-cage concealed four cores

instead of one;

and instead of life,

pumped code,

would you be in awe of me?

and, if my tongue,

emitted wi-fi

instead of poetry,

would we connect?

will it take a logo,

etched on the back of my neck,

for

you

to

love

me?

why can't my goosebumps suffice?

why can't i suffice…