Unpopular, Brutal—

I feel like this is an important poem

Nobody will like, and perhaps nobody should read.

I don’t think distance relationships

Are healthy.

I think if you’re

Obsessed with pining

You should take up a more productive hobby

Or at least

Find somebody closer

Just as lonely.

Maybe it’s hard to find

“The right person”

Or maybe

When they’re that far away

Ain’t nobody can prove or disprove it.

Time passes and people change and

If you aren’t there to notice

Or share the experience

You aren’t there —

It’s that simple.

Ain’t no relationship just a

Status, a feeling, something fleeting

A force field to use in social company

“Don’t worry about me I’m

Desirable and committed

I just can’t get either one of us

To move in and prove it”

If this hurts your feelings, go ahead and call me

Bitter, but as a hopeless romantic

I found myself

Easily taken advantage of

By someone who never had to actually do

Any of what a relationship is.

Spending time on social media or on

The phone for hours is just

Normal shit people do

When they’re depressed, folks

In between short spurts not

Permanently, and yet

All the young queers I see on the internet

Old ones too, have convinced themselves somehow

That you have to perform

The romance from a digital realm

In order for it to be emotionally distant enough

To ease into vulnerability alas

Nothing about

The comfort of your own home

And your phone

Makes anyone vulnerable.

Relationships are hard enough

When they are IRL

Unpopular but brutal—

Distance relationships are just

A fairytale.

Do some of them work out?

Sure. Loads of people

Have dry spells. But from personal experience

I wouldn’t date anyone

I didn’t spend extensive time with

IRL

Also, straight up

Don’t kid yourself if you think

You aren’t controlling your narrative

From social media, and in person

Eventually, folks

You both have to acknowledge

That you barely know each other at all.