Who am i?
by Jena Griffiths
I’m a Woman
so I’m told
and the clothes are flung
at me in my
Backstage
nakedness
(But dear, good actors
are not made bad
by their parts
no matter how private)
I’m a White
they say
African Brown
eyed Red
blooded Blue
about being
a colour-blind
foreigner
in a country
whose soil
is my sinew
I’m a Post
graduate
Lapsed pilot
former Sport
champion
eXemplary
Past (tense) professional
Once upon a time
award winning copy.writer
In another life
I’m a leopard
losing spots
Shedding lives
I’m an island
A handful
of Englishness
in a sea of German
mis(t)conception
Missed?
Missing (through) inaction
I’m a gypsy
a homeless
sailor
skipping between
lives
Landlocked and at sea
immor(t)al
debted and indebted
plain and pearl
woven between
other lives
like a safety net
for trapeze artist
children
I’m
motherdaughtersisterlover
other
somebodynobody
depending on
whim/weather/mood/moment/angle/light
b.other
I’m over
the hill/moon/top/your head
beyond
care/cause/redemption/your reach
alive
a life
spread
too thin
spread-eagled
waiting to roll
dice with the universe
again.
(first published in Zaadz, June 2006)