We My Friend, Are Made of Paper

The cross eyed girl at the library
And the man with thin soled shoes on the street
Are infallibly different from me
With stories just as incomplete
The woman with two babies on each hip
And the people that I do not even notice
Between the cracks is where they slip
Each one of so many lives that I miss
But perhaps to other people too
I am just as easy to fade as if I wasn't there at all 
But how I wish I know and I wish I knew
All the stories on this paper world that are scrawled
I wish I could read deeply from every story
Each person on this paper earth
For how kind we would be if we could see
The pain and the good after each birth 
For if we were able to read the lives of all that exist
Before they were children, adults, and lovers
We'd give a love to each other where no one is missed 
For then we wouldn't judge each book by their paper covers. 




-anna sluder 

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