22-i-am.txt


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---
title: 'I am'
project: 'Elegies for Alternate Selves'
...

I am a great pillar of white smoke. \
I am Lot's nameless wife encased in salt. \
I am the wound on Christ's back as he moans \
with the pounding of a hammer on his wrist. \
I am the nail that holds my house together. \
It is a strong house, built on a good foundation. \
In the winter, it is warm and crawling things \
cannot get in. This house will never burn down. \
It is the house that I built, with my body \
and with my strength. I am the only one who lives \
here. I am both father and mother to a race \
of dust motes that worship me as a god. I have \
monuments built daily in my honor in dark \
corners around the house. I destroy all of them \
before I go to bed, but in the morning \
there are still more. I don't think I know \
where all of them are. I don't think I can get \
to all of them anymore. There are too many.