This poem is published in poetry collection Hollow Eye (2026).
Clean Backup
I blink.
I’m told I am safe.
I feel copied.
There is a backup.
Everything important
was saved.My balance collapses inward.
Something essential never copied over.
Missing context.
Structure was saved, not the weight.
Data survived, meaning was lost.I move through the day
increasingly unreal,
like software in a sandbox.As if I’m operating
inside a partial reconstruction
of myself
that has never truly felt
what made me real.I understand too late:
this wasn’t a backup.It was a fuck-up
clean enough
to clear the checkpoints,
to pass review.A perfect copy of someone
who never actually existed.System check: passed.
Existence check: failed.Integrity: missing.
©2026 Samia Oldman
WHAT IS HUSH HALO?
Hush Halo is a dystopian sci-fi poetry collection set in a near-future shaped by technology, and optimized perfection. Each poem is paired with a unique soundscape created by poet, in Suno. Learn more in Square One.
Context: After the Great Optimization, a privileged group integrated into the system, believing they had now perfected themselves.
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