A voice in the crowd
I - I
That's a number and a pronoun,
in case you are confused and if it puzzles you
imagine how it has to be for me:
the me that sits here writing.
I know who I am: I'm me;
and you know who I am: I'm the person you're reading;
and neither of us knows a thing.
II - Narrator
I know who I am, and am the speaker
and everything I say is speech and you might ask:
Why aren't you quoted? Why aren't you italic?
But that would never do
I'm not a speaker in the scene
but am ever removed, distanced
seeing everything, uninvolved.
III - Inner voice
I do get italics, when I say:
I get italics,
because I am when the narrator speaks,
the author speaks, or when
the author reaching into your head,
gentle reader, puts words right there
instead of on the page.
IV - Author
I am the voice behind the voices
everything you hear is me
and everything you read
is how you hear it's me.
I still am not reality, you understand,
I'm your interpretation
of my projection, of what I want you to think...
V - Author (on podium)
...and here I am again, saying:
when I wrote this poem I wanted to show...
and there you are in the audience, lapping it up
because you've paid
(at least in time if not hard cash)
to hear me say this and you wish,
you really wish, I'd just get on with the poem.
VI - Character
Ignore me,
I'm just someone
that one of him
made up.
VII - Poet
So I'm the sum
of all of the the above
or if you like I dissect into
the crowd of them
and yet, here I am again,
typing, with no mind on any of this,
just typing words.
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