quotes from a book i refuse to stop writing #1 - who am i?

“i don’t need anyone else’s words but my own to tell my story,

except that i do, because i am just like you.

who am i if not a culmination of coping mechanisms and confidence?

of brazen, loud, persistent drama to cover up the insecurities that dig deep into my psyche

like anxious fingernails on wrists.

where does the anxiety end and my self begin?

who am i if not a mother, a singer, a writer, an artist.

you take these things away and who am i left with?

who am i when you remove the trauma?

in moments of clarity and credence i see the person i want to be - but is who i want to be

actually me or just the person i want other people to see?

and then what's the difference?

who am i when you remove the happy and the wholesome?

sometimes I feel like a copy, of a copy, of a copy, you know when the page starts to get

darker and you can't make out the words?

There's only so many times you can repeat

something before it loses it's meaning.

who am i when i sit alone on my bed and think that i might ever be able to make something

that rings true for someone else.

you see what i mean by brazen.

who am i without the audacity to think that i might be able to make some sense when so

many greater, better minds before me have tried with varying degrees of success.

after knowing what you know now;

who am i if not a culmination of coping mechanisms and confidence?

stood before you on my two clumsy feet, looking you dead in the eye so that when you ask

"who are you?" i can boldly reply,

if not who i am.”