Ode to Catfish Part I

[This poem is about the original definition of a catfish, defined on Urban Dictionary as "Someone who pretends to be someone they're not online to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances."]

You write me the best messages but you never seem to want to meet.
You always have some kind of an excuse, though your words are extremely sweet.
You seem to like me so very much and you make me feel at ease.
I pour my heart out to you, tell you my secrets, but all you are is just a tease.
After a while it starts to make sense -
From two years of dating app experience I am no longer that dense.
Your profile pics are probably fake,
Someone else's identity you thought you could take.
You don't care how this might make me feel,
Though you are not, you forget that I am real,
A person with feelings, vulnerable yet putting myself out there,
But you're heartless and manipulative and you don't even care.
Is this the only way you know how to connect?
Have you been hurt too and your own emotions you just want to protect?
Well, that is no excuse and it is so unkind -
If you want something real, you need to put your real self on the line.
Don't ruin it for those of us who are trying to be brave
And expose ourselves to strangers as we search for what we crave.
With other people's emotions one must never play;
That is the number one rule of dating; it shouldn't be necessary to say.
Don't message me for days and then cancel right before our date,
Telling me that a bad meal is what sealed our fate.
You now have food poisoning because you ate a bad dish?
Oh really? I wonder... could you have been served catfish?

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Has this ever happened to you? It has to me! Tell me in the comments!

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