This is my latest poem on Odyssey. To see my other poems and articles, check out my profile.

Flecks of Glass

Everyone tends to notice the good parts, the beautiful flecks of glass in a complicated mosaic of glass.
Nobody notices the humdrum mortar of everyday life, securing the pieces together.
Nobody notices the ugly bare spots, where the glass has been chipped away,
Nobody seems to notice the whole mosaic,
(there's too little time and too many social media platforms for that.)
Everyone sees the mosaic one fleck of glass, one notification at a time.
When everything so fragmented:
one disappearing video,
one late-night rant,
one string of emojis

So does everyone even see the whole me
or are they mesmerized by flecks of glass
glinting in the sun for a second's time?

This poem came to life last week when I was feeling nauseous but still trying to post on social media. I had taken my glasses off and everything on Instagram and Facebook was blurry and abstract, but vaguely beautiful.

It reminded me of a mosaic that I saw on the floor of the Worcester Art Museum once. The experience also got me thinking about the experience of communicating by social media and how everything is experienced in a fragmented manner.