i am not

if you had asked me who i was
(before) well,
i was taught to never
say, "I don't know."
so,
i would have had an answer for you

perhaps in poetic form
because that is what i do
but

"i am" poems are
overrated

i am not the
scratch of words across the page
or the pencil that just won't sharpen
i am a person
a writer at my very core,
strip away all of my layers
and words are what you will find

i am not the
tree that died to give
space to new life
i am a person
who lets everyone
trample all over me

i am not the
saxophone falling flat on every note
or the one that will give you sounds
that'll make you feel at home
i am a person
who needs music playing at all times
who feels the emotions of
every song in their bones
who plays the sax so lovely and yet
sometimes, so bad

if you had asked me who i was
(before) well,
i was taught to never
say, "I don't know."
so,
i would have had an answer for you

that was before,
before the day i heard a whisper
floating amongst the trees
telling me that i would
grow to unlearn
so much of what had been taught to me
before i could think for myself
i would do this in order to
reshape the knowledge
so that it held more people safe inside

people have more layers
than what they like or what they do

if you ask me who i am
(today) well,
i will have to say, "i don't know"
but, please, don't walk away
before i get a chance to add
that i am beginning to find out
(and that is a beautiful thing)