A single block of colour

One lonely pixel

Filling the phone’s screen

And then she zooms out

Slowly

Slowly

More blocks appear

Adding to the lonely pixel

Sharpening the tighter she pinches

The screen

And at first it looks like

A child’s Pixel Art drawing

Just random blocks that make no sense

D5ACA9, EBCFB2, B38D97

But slowly

Slowly

The blocks compress

To reveal two shining, happy faces

Full of life and youthful joy

Engagement pictures

One lonely pixel is part of

Billions that make up a photo

In the same way that one lonely person

Is part of billions that make up society

And human life

But the things that make up pictures

Are not the photos themselves

In the same way that a world cannot be

Defined by its people

But rather, its full beauty

Photos aren’t just images on a screen

They’re beautiful memories captured

In time, frozen moments

Preserved forever where you can see them

And the whole design is admired

Rather than the tiny building blocks

Even so, those pixels are needed

In the same way you are needed

You are loved

Even if you feel small

You are important

Love yourself, the celebrity photographer says, shielding her eyes subtly

from flashing lights, and she ends her speech

to whistles and applause

and the curtains close

as does the Photos app

as the celebrity photographer

now weakened with age

smiles down at her late sisters’

engagement photos.