People don’t have barcodes.

People don’t have barcodes
to be scanned in quantities
the button held down
pressing numbers
accumulating
and skipping cartons on the shelf
neglecting deeper connections
with each product.

Being known is the ideal right?
and knowing more is critical
in our own expiration
although I have always sheltered
a deeper need
for a more personal interest
one in which
I don’t make with each package on the shelf
when I do it’s important to me.

My warning label states
I exist
I’m alive
and I’m small in life
known by few
and the fewer I know
the fewer I connect with
and I feel everything
and I may revolt
and tell you
when I don’t agree.

Thanks for reading.
-Temperamentally Tina