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My "I"

What am “I”?
What is this entity?
And where can it be seen?
Is it my head
Or my left nose
I think it's not
Any of those.
Maybe the chest
If bare
Or full of hair?
Must look elsewhere.
It's not the punk
Of fourteen years
The one who shed
Too few tears.
Or the child
Who blushed a bit
He just could not
Get over it.
The “I” was shy
In youth
Much less today,
In truth.
Indeed, ephemeral,
And elusive
Somewhat wary
And reclusive.
Let's catch him
In the act!
We'll set him up
We'll lay a trap!
The bait can be
A memory
Of when somebody
Wounded me
Criticism
Cutting deep
Like a lash
From a whip.
Remember when
An insult crack
Tore the flesh
On your soft back
It hurt your heart
Got your gut
Emotions fell
Into a rut.
Who was feeling
All this pain
Your “I” was back
Big Time
Once again.

Imagine if you
Like to climb,
A ledge on high,
hanging by two fingers,
Not much time!
Soon you will lose your grip
And your “I” will fall
Your fear is not for
Your left toe
Or the rest of your body
That will go,
Your fear is for
the phantom fellow
Who's normally so shy
He can't be seen
Today his part is big and so
He fills the movie screen

This “I” cannot be found
No matter how hard
We try.
A billion books
Will be written
And then billions more
To explain to us
The nature of
An imagined entity
Ephemeral
Elusive
Reclusive
Who takes offense
Who plans and grasps
Who loves and clasps.

Even a ghost
Is more substantial!
Than my “I”

sean

I don't think it's all that elusive. I don't know if I have a better word for it than I. Did writing this get you anywhere? Things go into I, and things come out. I is a function. I has a CPU & a memory. I, robot. Things have touched me, and I have touched things.

I don't think it's all that elusive

Hello Manna

The "I" of which "I" write
is elusive
to me.
it's very subtle
and that is why
I write about
my I
because I forget

it is mere name
slapped upon
the appearance
to mind
of a body part
or
a moment of mind

I am sad
slapped upon a
mind-moment
of sad
I am sore
slapped upon
a mind-moment
of body ache
I am tall
slapped upon
a long aggregation
of body parts
all appearing momentarily
to mind

"I" only manifests
subsequent to
the manifestation
of a body bit
or a mind bit

An "I" alone
maybe is like
a 100 dollar label
lying by the side
of the road
having lost
it's basis
of imputation

sean