STEPHANIE ANN WHITED

On the Permanence of Personality

I Consent to Say

  ISSUE DOS!

When the Cause is Lost

ON THE PERMANENCE OF PERSONALITY

I will be seen with one regardless

Of my manipulation of it; I have a voice

And often it says I referring to me.

Sometimes I have these thoughts.

Other times I do not

Have these thoughts. Maybe you can

Take them away from me

To where you listen from.

Do you hear

Me?

That is when I feel the least like myself,

And when I feel the most as someone else

Listening.

I CONSENT TO SAY

so begins the evening

again today,

I haven't spoken words      aloud, to anyone—

excepttomom onthecell

while not at home I answered

also coffee to stay

    and

could I have a refill and

thank you several times

to various receivers, inanimate

    and

animate, a few strangers

I've seen at least twice a week

for 3 months or so I say

hot coffee to stay

or to go if I have to

go! when I can't find a seat

to sit among strangers I recognize

I signed that waiver to watch others and to be watched

as a stranger    to focus

while slightly distracted

so as to stimulate our ‘eye

collective’ to keep moving, we each pitch in a few bucks

to the commotion,             driving—

in the passenger seat we coast

with iPhones as divining rods

find water for us—

oh please yes thank you!

WHEN THE CAUSE IS LOST

Hold the mess

in one hand.

Your webbed palm

grasps in an Anti-Gravity refrigerator;

someone unscrewed all the lids.

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