You said, “The self can know nothing
but its own modifications, and the self
is the only existent thing.” My attention
turned to a woman passing our bench
who momentarily pulled me out of us,
Solipsism
Tag self
The Past and Future
Year’s end always sends thoughts into the past.
Review and reflection. Celebrations and regrets. Conclusions.
But briefly. Then to a future near
and far but all unclear, unformed, undetermined.
Momentarily, no present. No now. No self.
Self-Portrait
Asked to sketch a self-portrait in class,
I am only able to look down
and draw my legs and my shoes.
“Is this really how you see yourself?”
she asks. I look down once again.
Mirror Image
That new poem you wrote about me,
is about you. Not all ars poetica.
Art of the self. Me in you.
Looking in the mirror can be dangerous.
That reversed reflection looks so damned real.
Woman Standing in Front of a Mirror, 1841, by C.W. Eckersberg
Falling Out of Yourself
Drawn to falls like lovers and suicides,
staring at the deep beauty and power,
being pulled in, carried to the edge –
a leap, flight, immersion, freedom from self,
becoming a part of the falls itself.
from Alec Soth’s Niagara (2006)
Third Person
My life has unfolded in third person.
Like a film. Like a book’s pages
turning from the wind, one by one,
or in multiples of chapters, months, years.
I met myself on the street today.
Writing the Day 