Life is written drunk as Joyce
And edited sober as Thoreau
The constant cringing anguish
Of the ghosts of prior iterations
The rough drafts of who I am now
Occasionally still peaking through
From under the carefully edited,
Neatly curated layers
Of every me that I was after that;
Like transitional forms
In the fossil record of the mirror
The ghosts at the feast
If I knew then what I know now
I would’ve done it all differently
I would’ve been cool
And suave, and gracious, and urbane
J.D. Perl enjoys the music of Miles Davis and John Coletrane; the films of Stanley Kubrick and Milos Forman; and fast-casual dining concepts.