unfiltered

A poem by Bianca Poletti, inspired by her short film FACETWEAK

Beauty has a blueprint

They say 

Angles, edits, lighting schemes,

a face smooth as forgetting,

a body bent to algorithms and dreams.

Swipe by swipe,

I watch the world wear masks

with captions like gospel,

and filters like armor.

But in the quiet,

before the glow of screens,

there’s a face in the mirror

with history in her eyes,

laughter in her lines,

and stories stitched into her skin.

They don’t post the silence after scrolling,

the ache of comparison,

or the hollow echo of “not enough.”

But beauty—

real beauty—

lives where the camera doesn’t go

in the steadiness of your breath,

the courage to speak without apology,

the softness you offer yourself

when no one is watching.

It is the wildness of being whole,

not flawless.

It is the choice to stay,

to show up as you are—

unguessed,

unposed,

unfiltered.

Because you, just breathing,

already breaks every mold.