I know him from Debate
I know her since we share a similar name
I know them from playback theater
I know him from the musical last year
I know her from squash
I know them from my old school
...
You may think I'm a social butterfly
But,
that's not the case

I know him being, 'I know he's very polite but easily argumentative from my one word interactions with him and he's dated one of my friends'

I know her being 'I've heard of her from others who confuse our names but I've never really spoken with her except for exclaiming over our names'

I know them being 'I came to the meeting and listened quietly eating bagels as they spouted all the ideas'

I know him being 'my friend talked to him and I was there, we had to **** each other during one of the acts'

I know her being 'I finished my squash match early and watched her play hers'

I know them being 'they knew me as the shy girl who likes to read, I know them as people I inevitably talked to during school activities in our small grade'

It's unfortunate
really,
when I think

I could be great friends with these guys
If
I
only
stopped
being
so
self
conscious

When I write poetry
I write like I speak
Almost
Basically
My thoughts
Feelings
Emotions
As they come
But
When she writes
Each word
Each phrase
Each letter
Each sound
is carefully thought out
Meticulous
Perfect
Each, an essential part of the whole
The materpiece
So,
Is it something I will learn?
When I grow up?
Or,
Is it an innate difference between us?

The question really is
how much of yourself do you want out there?
For one and all to see?

Social media-
other online platforms as well,

Allow one to remake themselves
or simply unveil what they choose

But,
in the end
Even,
if you try to hide it

You're still you
and
I'm still me

What is
selfless
When helping
Others
Makes you feel
good
about yourself

When I was but a child
To litter seemed a scandelous crime
As we were taking a walk one day
I vowed
That I’d bring
My plastic grabby tool out
And clean it all up
...
We got home
Milk and cookies
Was all it to took
For me to forget
...
A couple of years later
I saw a piece of plastic in our yard
I picked it up
Brought it home
And disposed of it
Feeling great about myself
...
The year after my brother happened to have a park cleanup
At his school
I had time
So I thought,
Why not?
I came along
Used funky tools
Counted each piece I picked up
Feeling good about myself
Then I went home
To eat some cookies
...
The next time I saw a piece of trash,
I acknowledged there wasn’t anything much I would do about it
...
After that I stopped noticing all together

They instill the knowledge in kids
That littering is bad
But just words
Are words
Until we put in a team effort
Rather than acknowledging others will do it for us
Or that it’s too hopeless
Nothing will ever get done