i seek companionship sporadically and modestly

and lately unsuccessfully

hoping something magic happens to this cisgendered septuagenarian male who is stub-legged and ear-hairy and is a professional tomato slicer

no magic lately though

yet i do hear from women who want to connect with me

but they are artificial women, constructed women, designed to ensnare by begging me to send them a friend request because for some reason they cannot send me one

and their profiles only go back a few weeks at most

and it becomes obvious that some pattern-recognizing algorithm has deepfaked an identity from whole cloth and tried to snag me into “friendship” with a woman who doesn’t exist

creepy and predatory, says my intuition

but the algorithm seems to be getting better and better at presenting the artificial woman of my dreams

for instance, they used to be way too young and gigantic-breasted for me

and gushy and oohlala

but the latest of them seem almost real

gosh, it’s scary

the loneliness that drives this soullessness