of the clerk and the stairs

Who Am I?

who am I?

am I a conglomeration of selves,

different manifestations within me,

built variably because of 

changing developmental levels and experiences?

that way who I am today is a committee,

with my current self a clerk of a meeting,

sort of in charge but only one voice among many,

I prefer to think of myself as on a spiral staircase,

with different views at the different levels,

each view right and accurate, just different,

each view “me,”

kind of like that old story of the elephant

being viewed by blind people

who only can experience a part at a time,

I am the elephant,

and at each age I know an aspect of who I am,

as the elephant, I don’t change much,

but my viewpoint of myself does change,

maybe someday I can hold all of myself at once.

by Henry H. Walker

August 16, ‘19