and I am the dust jacket of my favourite novel; well worn, well creased, well loved (flat instead

of folded) - I am the chalk dust that falls off a blackboard, the dust that whispers mene, tekel,

peres (the writing on the black slate wall); I am the sacrality that follows:

title (untitled); author (anonymous); characters (unnamed); quotes (unspoken); I am large, I

contain multitudes (whitman) - contradict and compliment - sow discord, reap delight (does that

make me a Reaper? Should one call me Grim?) - I am the vain cockatoo preening in the mirror,

and the academic asleep in their thesis; I am kept out of sentimentality (but not need) and I add

(but do not subtract), and the number is whole without addition - I am a stick that is a sword,

staff, simply a stick (I elicit joy); I am the ice cream truck on a hellfire day (I am welcomed with

wild abandon) - I am the sticker on a grocery store fruit (I am easily discarded); I am and I am and I am and I

am not - I have filled myself with use(less/ful) notes: 

you are a girl you are a girl you are a girl you are a girl you are a girl you are a girl - (am I?)

I am paper and ink and life and other impermanent things; I am nothing of value; I am

priceless(?); I am a breath in a tornado; I am wrapping paper the day after Christmas; I am a

worm in a rainstorm; I am a worm in a tacklebox - I add, and I do not subtract