Heather Sweeney: The Ghost in My Selfies

Photo: Joanna C. Valente

#FRAILTY

I’m holding my phone up
For a sidewalk selfie with
All the dying bees
I’m holding my phone up
For empty shelves at Trader Joe’s
Lined with the color of melancholia
This is not yet the aftermath
But a selfie of the uncertainty
This is not yet the end
But a post about my manic frailty

#CELLOPHANE

In this selfie you’re touching my face
My face is an ice sculpture
From a music video
My face is a melting chandelier
A wine cave wall
A mid-80s sunset
A laminated menu from Chili’s
A pastel ocean of cellophane

#BLEACH

Today’s horoscope is “Try not to talk shit”
And I have the screenshot to prove it
This is not an algorithm
This is a selfie of Dorian Gray
In this selfie I was loved by you
But you could not refresh my feed
In this selfie I could not change
This is my devil’s trumpet
This is my heart of bleach

#BORED

The ghost in my selfie has gone viral
I am loved for 15 minutes
This selfie contains an antelope
You can’t see foraging on a hillside
It is a hill of glitter and I cradle
The animal with arms of glass
This is hell with a dramatic filter
Hell is the clam-bake you were not invited to
Please don’t correct my grammar
Hell is when you make me wait for you
& now even the ghost is bored

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Heather Sweeney, she/her, lives in San Diego where she writes, teaches and does visual art.  Her chapbooks include Just Let Me Have This (Selcouth Station Press) and Same Bitch, Different Era: The Real Housewives Poems (above/ground press).  Her collections, Dear Marshall, Language is Our Only Wilderness (Spuyten Duyvil Press) and Call Me California (Finishing Line Press) are both forthcoming.  You can also find her at https://www.heathercsweeney.com