You are Not

Image: Vi.sualize.us

A friend's poem that I find captivating. Please enjoy!

You Are Not

 

You are not who you said you were.

 

This is the line

Echoing in my head for years

The beginning of a short story

A novel

A poem

I say this to someone who has hurt me

A husband

A boyfriend

A character says it to same

Man to woman

Woman to man

It is always fictitious

A story

I wake up

It’s real

The line repeats itself in my head

But it’s not me saying it

Instead it’s being said to me.

“You are not who you said you were.”

 

My life has written itself

Without my speaking

Without my picking up the pen.

The irony

Of it.

 

Carolyne Van Der Meer

Previously published in Helios, Vol. 9, No. 8, 2008