subtext

• •

All Narrators are Unreliable


What do I do

with the I here,


with the voice here,

with an other


who is just me;

yet, not as well?


For so long now,

I have written


into my life

out of my life;


I know myself

as different,


something other

than what I write.


Someone must breathe

behind these words,


must speak slowly

to understand. 


What is being

sotto voce?

Am I speaking?

Or listening?


What tight constraints

must be applied


in order to say

that I am here?

(January 7, 2026)