13 Reasons Why -Nicolas Sturniolo

Tape 4, Side B

Would you like to hear the last poem I wrote before quitting poetry?

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Before quitting poetry for good.

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No?

Fine.

But you've already read it.

It's very popular on the Internet!

Some of you may recall it by now. Not word-for-word, but you know what I'm talking about.

If Malcolm found it, he'd scratch off the name and use it for a good scam in the system.

He'd pretend it was his.

Some of you may be wondering how Malcolm found so many interesting items to scam.

Maybe he stole them?

I asked him that very question after one of my poetry meetings, and he swore that everything he printed was found purely by chance.

Others, he admitted, had been sent to him by fans on Instagram.

Those; he couldn't vouch for one hundred percent.

That's why he scratched out names and phone numbers.

He'd gather a few pages of "quirky" material then print out fifty copies. Then he'd staple them together and hand them out to people as if he was promoting something big.

Never in the same spot, he told me.

He thought it was fitting for people to stumble across his filled magazine of allegedly stolen items.

But guess what?

My poem?

He stole it.

[Tape pauses]

And for those of you who need a refresher: here it is.

All alone
By Nicolas Sturniolo

I meet your eyes, you don't even see me.

You hardly respond when I whisper hello.

Could be my soulmate, two kindred spirits.

Maybe we're not.

I guess we'll never know.

My own mother: you carried me in you and you see nothing but what I wear.

People ask you how I am doing, you smile and nod.

Don't let them there.

Put me underneath God's sky and know me. Don't just see me with your eyes.

Take away his mask of flesh and bone and see me for my soul alone.

And now you know why.

So, did your teachers dissect me properly?

Were they right?

Did they have a clue at all it was me?