What is beauty?
by Chloe Lubin

What is beauty?
Is it how long my lashes are?
Or is it the length of my natural hair?
Is it the price of my wig?
Or is it determined by the curl on my hair?
What is beauty?

You see
Beauty is what I want it to be
To me
I can choose if I wanna be u g l y or p r e t t y
Because my b e a u t y is chosen by me

It is not for you
Nor is it for the man across the street
My make up is for me because I like it
My jeans are for me
My ass is for me
My body is with me thus it is for Me

Y o u should not be worried b a b y
Because my beauty is my beauty
I will not be scared
I will not be objectified
I will not let you walk on me

Because I am beauty
And b e a u t y is me

A response to "How do you authenticate a person," by Oni who wrote at the Poets of Course workshop as a loose reponse to #100hardtruths-#fakenews #65: "#fakenews #realtalk about black girls' liberation" as well as #100hardtruths-#fakenews #52: "address fears about beauty, disability and aging." It seems this and a great many of the poems are also a way to express what was said in the video, "FAKE!" by Doveman and Tom Kalin and Craig Paul as #100hardtruths #8. In our poetry-video workshop a new group named their video after #100hardtruths #46 stay aware, not afraid.

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My Phone Lies to Me
By James, Shamine, and Marsela

My phones tells me to look at it.
It tells me there’s a world inside,
But when I look away, I know that’s not true.
There’s a world right there.
The phone asks me to look again.
It tells me it’s real.
But I ask it to speak,
To breathe,
To love,
To hate,
And it can’t do that.

A response to "My Phone Lies to Me," written by Sam Soloman at the Sussex, England workshop as a reponse to #100hardtruths-#fakenews #94: "Always Look for the Real Thing." In their subsequent poetry-video workshop the group working on this poem named their video after #100hardtruths #1 the real internet is fake.

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A Picture that Will Never Tell My Story
By Ash and Ty

T| If you don’t have a profile picture
You don’t have no character
Even just black says something

A| People can be secretive

T| Secretive isn’t the word
They’re more to themselves

A| Oh, independent then
You having a black screen makes
you not want to talk to someone

T| Just being plain

A| It’s more than one reason
They don’t want to be social
They don’t want to make friends

T| There’s a difference between knowing your life
And someone actually knowing

A| Yeah! – but you don’t know –
I would have no friends and
you would never know

A response to "A picture that will never tell my story," by Aodhan Gallagher who wrote at the NYU Workshop based loosely on #100hardtruth #69 ghosts can't tell stories by Quito Zeigler. It is also a loose response to #100hardtruth #99 information overload needs positive feedback effects which itself responds to the writing of Tiziana Terranova. In their subsequent poetry-video workshop the group working on this poem named their video after #100hardtruths #58 choose to know, name, and share your own internet truths (an invitation).