---
title: 'Elegy for an alternate self'
project: 'Elegies for Alternate Selves'
...

Say there are no words. Say that we are conjoined \
from birth, or better still, say we are myself. \
---But I still talk to myself, I build my world \
through language, so if we say there are no words \
this is not enough. Say we are instead some animal, \
or better yet, a plant, or a flagellum motoring \
aimlessly around. (Say that humans are the only things \
that reason. Say that we're the only things that worry.)

Say that I am separate. To say there's everything else \
and then there's me is wrong. Each thing is separate: \
there is no whole in the world. Say this is both good \
and bad, or rather, say there is no good or bad but only \
being, more and more of it always added, none taken out \
though it can be forgotten. Say that forgetting \
is a function of our remembering. (Say that humans only \
worry about separation. Say that only humans feel it.)