Poetry- The Second Chapter
Perception
I wonder how people see me after meeting me for the first time. How do I "seem" to them? Who do I appear to be? If they knew prior knowledge of who I am, did I exceed the preconception or fit perfectly into the character they imagined?
I wonder if after one meeting a person can perceive who I am. Through my speech, mannerisms, laughter, facial gestures, can they see me?
At dinner, if they know me, they would not say anything after I refuse a second serving. One who knows me knows my serving portions and would not mistake my small meals as an attempt to stay thin. One would not make comments about me not eating enough.
I wish I could bring visual aids along instead of only using speech to create the image of who I am.
I am this painting
I am this poem
I am this Jacob T-shirt
I am this necklace
I am VanGogh and Chagall
I am Lisa Loeb
I am the color blue
I am a Gerbera Flower
To those who are familiar with me, all the above I mentioned can be associated with who I am. I sometimes feel I do not come across as myself at a dinner lasting four hours, but then again, I may be feeling that I am not coming across as the person I think I am and am actually being the person who I truly am.
How do we measure who we are? It's a system of checks and balances. We are and are not whom we choose to be. Our surroundings influence the way we are and if this system changes, we must find new ways of defining ourselves.
A foreign land presents too many strange and misunderstood checks and balances. The language changes and words begin to represent different things. Gestures loose their power.
All in all, we need familiarity to find a balance in the system we use to define the self. If this system is challenged, changed or affected in any way, our perception of ourselves will too be altered, forcing ourselves to re-evaluate who we truly are with out the external signs.
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