What to do,

  What to say,

  Went on date app

  Come what may,

  27 Hearts received plus

  8 Hearts & Intros,

  Celebrate - it could be zero.

  From the 35,

  5 Matches,

  Want to know what happened?

  Let’s go:

  1st Match an intro:

  K from Bristol;

  Messages back and forth for

  a week then

  Messages from them went

  to zero.

  Vid chat suggest brought things

  to a head;

  No next stage?

  Separate ways are best.

  2nd a Surprise Like from the

  same city as Me:

  R from Liverpool.

  2 messages exchanged plus a

  third from me with a question:

  No reply and it’s way past a

  week,

  What can I do,

  What can I say:

  Ghosts are alive and well on

  The app named after sugar’s opposite.

  Next, the Day before Easter,

  A big surprise;

  When range was extended,

  a load of hearts arrived.

  Including one from London,

  a person beginning with My.

  Couple of messages exchanged

  then no reply after a week;

  You know where it's going,

  Another ghost has arrived.

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  Do what K did and just say you've

  bailed out, R and My;

  Not leave folk hanging without so

  much as a ‘Bye’.

  Three days after Easter

  A double surprise:

  A into and a heart

  on the same day.

  First, the intro,

  CL from near Lancaster:

  Great intro,

  Wonderful paragraphs,

  Could be a journalist with their

  questions,

  Then began to fade and was

  bugging up their activities rather

  than answering some of mine,

  Should have seen it coming

  Fading’s long-form for ‘Bye’.

  ‘Wasn’t going anywhere’,

  ‘Distance too far’,

  If the week-long chat was so

  Great, why does it now feel sour?

  Maybe some folk just love to ‘chat’.

  No vid,

  No face to face,

  Message, message then quit.

  The Fifth Match?

  You can probably guess;

  Messaged back and forth,

  Back and forth for a week and:

  Had a half hour vid chat.

  But, the day after,

  A from Notts went quiet,

  Until I messaged to say I’d enjoyed

  the vid chat:

  Then came the reply, just like the

  other two:

  Enjoyed the week-long exchange

  (and the vid chat),

  but ‘things weren’t going to proceed

  romantically forwards’.

  What can I say,

  What can I do,

  Down I felt and very drained

  too.

  All that messaging adds up,

  All that time wasted hits like

  a thump.

  Chatting and swiping way too intense,

  Time for a break from week-long

  messaging speed dates.

  Maybe this helps,

  Maybe it doesn’t,

  Take same time away from the d app

  Pause and recharge,

  Remember who you are

  That it’s one part of a

  larger whole and ‘it’ might

  happen elsewhere.

  The Salt Five:

  I’ve wasted enough.

  Me?

  Loving getting my head back;

  Till Next time.

  Plus, I’ve now got a bunch of saved

  answers that I can tweak for any questions

  that I receive on there from here onwards :)

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