Jordan Alejandro Rivera

“my mom uses facetune now”

.
i am the annoying bird, pecking through my feed,
“are you my mother?” i ask the woman with
teeth too long, eyes too bright, lip overdrawn,
“are you my mother?” i ask the girl who
hides her face from photos she can’t filter
“are you my mother?” i ask myself in
the mirror, sucking in, pouting my lips,
oh the horror,
where has my mother gone?

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Contributor note: Please don't read this, Mom.

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Jordan Alejandro Rivera (he/him) is a 23-year-old queer Xicano writer living in Boston. Jordan is passionate about mutual aid and wants to see a free Palestine in his lifetime. His work is featured in fifth wheel press, Writers Resist, HAD, and more, and he is twice nominated for Best of the Net.

Find Jordan on Twitter @jordinowrites and check out his website.