The #BASICs of Instagram
Hudson, Valencia, there are so many to choose
But the real question is, which filter will look best for
A pic of my shoes?
Saturate or exaggerate,
The options are endless.
But if you post too much, you may end up friendless.
Everyone wants to have a flawless, fantastic feed,
And of course a funny caption to read.
Someone’s OOTD may be a catastrophe,
But you still like the photo so you don’t
Kill their mojo.
When you eat food from Kogi,
You always have to type an emoji.
Ding, ding, ding! You have notifications pending.
Is it even worth it to complain?
We all love to post selfies and to be vain.
Those feet at the beach pics I just don’t understand,
Honestly, please just stick your feet back in the sand.
Starbucks, SoulCycle, yoga, and Runyon,
If you don’t post a pic, it all never happened.
And lastly,
Your eyebrow game can’t be weak,
Or else they won’t be #onfleek.
Initially, I had trouble coming up with a topic to write about for my original poem for English class. However, I was scrolling through Instagram recently when I came across multiple nearly identical pictures posted by several different people.
The expression “#BASIC” is generally associated with typical social media posts, such as artsy photos, hiking pictures, and “on-fleek” selfies. The first two lines of my poem both had thirteen syllables, and I chose to do this because I wanted to mirror the sound of two friends typing comments to each other on an iPhone, and many people I know began using Instagram at age thirteen.
Primarily, I decided to use end rhyme because users often attempt to be clever and make their Instagram captions rhyme from beginning to end. As for other poetic devices, I utilized alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia.
In the sixth stanza, I chose to use both repetition and onomatopoeia to emphasize the irritating sound the iPhone makes when several friends post photos at the same time. As for assonance, I used it in the seventh stanza with the words “feet” and “beach,” which repeat the same vowel sound, to suggest how common it is for people to post pictures of their bare feet on the beach.
Lastly, I publish a fashion and lifestyle blog, and I know I am guilty of “over-posting” on Instagram sometimes. However, I am not the type of person to take anything too seriously, and I had a great time writing this poem.
