People Online Don'T Really Exist Poem by Patti Masterman

People online don’t really exist-
Oh sure, they have names, supposed addresses,
Jobs and family members; present and ex-lovers,
But they are really just wigheads,
Stranded in dark beauty shops;
Mannequins frozen in empty storefronts.

None of them are real, warm and present
If you get too close too soon,
They disappear altogether,
And if you remain distant for too long,
They'll evaporate;
If you do anything in between those two,
Discernible by any fraction line,
They will simply dematerialize
Before your unsuspecting eyes.

People online are a fiction
That's waiting to write itself
Like a temporary tattoo
All too briefly across your life;
You are only the train station
Where they're waiting now,
To catch the next train, that comes through,
And I think I hear the train whistle
Right now.

(Online life is one of the worst oxymorons I’ve ever met up with)