NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: Day 5

This girl I used to know
decorated her days in
purple pipe cleaners and googly eyes.

She covered her hands in bright
yellow finger paint and waved--
her hand a mass of eyes

that would stick everywhere 
but on paper. They lived in
her shoes, on walls, in her hair

the better to see everything. 
From the first day of preschool 
to her fourth birthday

when the cake tasted strawberry 
and the princesses all had googly
eyes. She pulled them from 

the sugars, as if to see what 
the princesses saw 
but other people's eyes

are only reflections of 
the things we pretend 
to be and all she ever saw

through googles and clever 
confections was blurred, 
if crafty.