Identity

This poem below was read at the 5th annual Art Trail for an Open Mic Poetry Night Nov 9th:

One
Two
Three
Four

Hands Patting on one's knee.

Identity shifts
   Within light and darkness
      We are never alone with our shadows that accompany us on our paths.

Walking through the grocery aisles
   with a cart that has a mind of its own.
Packages promising Instant Happiness
Candy positioned in aisle #7
   on the other side and never looked at before.
Violations at instant check out of 12 or less.
  Not prosecuted but accepted without question or defense.
Bagged to supply several days of nutrition.

Be careful of our words
   For they are building blocks of thought
   Easily toppled or
     firmly cemented as the concrete of our lives.
    Becoming digested within our minds
       to recall at a moment's notice.
     Or as Richard Fewell shared:
      words gone by are then swooped up by someone else for their use.

Rivers slowing down in our lives
   And mirrors serving as a reflected memory of what is going on.
                                    9-11  11-9