Echo Chamber NØRTHERN STRINGS

Same feed, same face
Same glass-pane stare
My thumb keeps circling
Like it’s trapped in there

A copy of a copy
On repeat all day
My own small thoughts
Get trained that way

One more swipe
One more lie
My name gets smaller
Every time

Then I spot it
Just a crack
In the machine
Calling back

I don’t want the loop
I want the room
I want a voice
That isn’t me

Cut through the script
Rip through the spin
C’mon, real world
Get under my skin

I don’t want the loop
I want the room
(leave the echo)
I want the truth

Mirror on mirror
On a blacked-out screen
Same tired grin
Same borrowed dream

Every answer fits
Like a locked-down map
But the street outside
Is where I’m at

A bus door hisses
A dog yanks free
Some kid on the curb
Says hey to me

And that cracked-open note
From the next block over
Hits like a hand
On my shoulder

Something human
Something rough
Not polished, not posted
Just enough

I don’t want the loop
I want the room
I want a voice
That isn’t me

Cut through the script
Rip through the spin
C’mon, real world
Get under my skin

I don’t want the loop
I want the room
(leave the echo)
I want the truth

Cello crying through
The busted wire fence
One long note
Like it meant something

It climbs up slow
Then tears right through
All my mirrored thoughts
All my copied views

I hear my breath
I hear my name
Not from a screen
Not made the same

I don’t want the loop
I want the room
I want a voice
That isn’t me

Cut through the script
Rip through the spin
C’mon, real world
Get under my skin

I don’t want the loop
I want the room
(leave the echo)
I want the truth

I don’t want the loop
I want the room
C’mon, real world
I’m coming through