APAD 9 prompt: self-portrait
I exist only in the way
you see me. I make out
I am who you see me as,
as I guess what you see.
I would like to have a certain
immutable set of qualities,
characteristics, powers, and
I do: those you grant me.
What a variety of answers
when I ask: how do you see me?
From enthusiastic to intense,
bossy to adaptable. Short!
is nearest to a fact, but also
comparative. Picture this:
on holiday my daughter
snaps me with head thrown
back, laughing wildly at
a now forgotten absurdity,
myself. A portrait would show
sunglasses atop a throat and jaw.
I also have no idea
who you really are.
yet when I stand
in front of you and look
closely, I see nothing
to invent either way.
The way it has been,
is and always will be
behind the barriers
we erect as mere humanity.
I am someone mostly
and highly amused by life.
Cruel at times in my lack
of sympathy. Others agree.
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