Arts & Crafts Girl

I am
A children's arts and crafts project
Sleep dries in my eyes like hot glue
Cementing my lids shut
Tears soak into my cheeks leaving them
Soggy like paper mache
My face is red and blotchy like
A felt pen running out of ink on paper
My lips are dry and cracked like
A pack of paints left out in the sun
My nose drops drops drops like
Glitter glue from a tiny plastic bottle
Which has found its way into my
Crunchy pipe cleaner hair
My heart feels hard as if it has been
Made from a handful of Popsicle sticks
Maybe if I ask nicely enough
My construction paper soul could be
Glued back together from the tiny
Pieces that were cut from me

Maybe I am just debris
Lying in a pile underneath a students desk
Waiting for the janitor to come by
And sweep me back up
Because I cannot do it myself

A thousand little hands
Grab me, stretch me, and mold me
Until when I look in the mirror
I no longer see the materials
That made me, instead
I see a disfigured arts and crafts project
Made by people who know nothing
About me