I and Me--Poem

I and Me

I'm a Feminist,

but I keep an XO elbow-purse

with a magnetic clasp

and a hidden pocket for

extra-personal items

because Aunt Jill gave it to me

for Christmas last year.

I'm an antimaterialist,

even though I save up coins in a

used vitamin water bottle

not because I like counting them

but to defy my spendthrift nature

to defy something others say

is uncontrollable.

I'm afraid of heights,

even when my cat Momo

gets chased up a tree

by the neighbor's yapping—chihuahua

and I have to climb looking up

hands shaking going down

with myeowling claws digging in.

I'm a young adult,

especially to my mom

but not in school because

we need to act adult to be “prolific”

and not with our friends because

we need to act younger

to be “cool.”

I am the only me here,

who can think what I think

before I think anything

because me and I are the same

except when me is the object

and I decide to change me—for a moment

to defy what is said to be

uncontrollable.