I am what I am when I’m not
I blend, then I mold, rearrange,
for once I abided on Manitou street
and I worked in a Halloween chain
where I gummed on the foam,
that can mask every blemish through pain.

I am what I am if I have
either air of a slave or a lord,
whether dishrags or cummborbunds clothe me,
no matter what food I afford.

I am what I am in the mirror,
through the window where Mother looks in,
in my likeness on top of the lake,
or from silvery dreamings within.

I am what I am when I am
sleeping or walking or both,
working or homing or both,
riding or driving or quoth.

I yam what I yam when I choose
to call every orange spud “sweet,”
to use pans not vats, and salt over grease
and bake all their bits into fries.

I am what I am when I speak
in a voice that is mine but not mine.
My accent can change in a week or a day
My voice will transform in relation to play
or the sounds of the people I find.

}{

For newcomers — a note on 50 @ 25:

Once upon a time, I read that the perfect age for writing quality poetry is twenty-three.  Apparently most of T.S. Elliot’s stuff came out then, the rest of his work being supposedly non-poetic. This resulted in 46 poems written at 23.

These poems came out exponentially faster and faster before my 24^th birthday on April 30^th – and I had to write in genres spanning from epic ballads to limericks to get 46 in on time. I guess that means, for better or worse, that’s the best poetry I’ll ever write. Sad day.

Who was I kidding?

Milton was blind and old—oooooold—when he publishedParadise Regained. Emily Dickenson was dead when her stuff came out. My favorite stuff from T.S. Elliot came out after his conversion. So yeah, old age is good for poetry too. Look at Burns and Berry.

(Side note: the name “Berry Burns” sounds like a shady car salesman).

Will I keep up this twice-my-age regimen every few years? Who knows, but this year, here’s to 50 poems at 25 to be written exponentially faster until I turn 26 on April Thirtyish. I do it this the second time around as a way to say: “Here’s to living life well before it’s too late.”