taylordoyle

instaluv is a performative text read from a bed. It was performed at the 2016 Queer Emergence Arts Festival at Western University.

instaluv

i can hear them through my phone
they squirm around, i can feel it
the people that live inside my phone can see me

i can feel my phone wake up
before it even makes a sound
to let me know what happened

i am always happy to see it beam light up
from the table
or the floor or
the bed

one chime to let me know that something has happened
[a luver has reached out]

sometimes i can tell from the tone of the chime
who it is
and if im going to like it

even though all of the chimes are the same
there is a flavour hanging in the air around my phone and it is readable sometimes
before i even look at it
[like some impending joy][or shittiness]

sometimes my phone gets really warm
i can hear it whirling and faintly whining
and the plastic and metal get softer

like its digesting and burping

my luvers are mixing together
i dont know them all
but they know me

i swear
i think i heard one
just now!

i can feel her looking at me
she just hearted two of my photos
and shes never done that before

she is checking me out
checking out my face, my body
she has felt some luv for me
though my instagram feed
feeding me
ive never met her

maybe we could be partners
or friends

she is admitting my existence
she likes my aesthetic
i like hers

i wonder where shes from
i wonder if she luvs me