"I Am" Poems

A Question of Identity by Bonnie

“Lain is Lain and I am me!”

A cry out of anime,

The simplest of truths.

I am me.

Aren’t we all?

Aren’t we?

Looking at myself I wonder yet again why

This looking-glass feels compelled to reflect a distortion,

A warped and rippling almost-clone that slips into my skin,

Laughing aloud at fate, at the hypocrisies that are in the world

(And in myself).

I look at her and, to my horror, recognition sparks-

I am- who, exactly?

Comfort comes flying on the wings of dragons,

In the tip of a pencil, in a piccolo’s song,

In the aroma of book- so easy to find.

So easy to reach in, and in reaching, finding:

This is who I am.

The dreamer, the creator, who hungers to make-

One persona that remains steadfast.

Another one is drawn to the stage,

And rather than embracing the spotlight, she forsakes it (with confidence)

In favor of dusty corridors and forlorn shelves that sing.

And their song is the sweeter for being unheard. (By my ears-)

Each new tune a draught of nectar and honey to a starved soul

That thirsts for more, evermore, seeking knowledge with the impertinent curiosity

Of that wretched cat-

But satisfaction always brings me back.

I am that cat.

Sometimes I think that I am what You have made me:

Be it the bitter one, the creator, the curious one.

As necessity has molded me (pummeled really)

With the firm, loving grip of an iron vice

The clay of my being has hardened, has shattered into

A thousand fragmentary Me’s, clamoring for acknowledgement.

Am I really Me? Or a shoddy replica of You?

But by that question comes the liberation.

By the question, I break from the flock

By the question, I can soar as I choose

By the question, the answer:

I am me.

Whoever I choose to be.