FOR PERFORMANCE
I AM NOT
I am not a theatre artist, I am not an actor, I am not a playwright, I am not a dramaturg.
I am not a novelist, I am not a journalist, I am not a magazine writer, or a copywriter.
I am not a composer, I am not a conductor, I am not a musician. I am not a librarian.
I am not a choreographer, I am not a dancer, I am not an accompanist, I am no auteur.
I am not a film-maker, I am not a visual artist, I am not a curator, I am no critic.
I AM NO LONGER
I am no longer a reviewer, I am no longer a freelance writer, I am no longer a publisher.
I am no longer an arts administrator, I am no longer an arts advocate, I am no longer
an Executive Director, I am no longer a Chief Executive Officer, or an Executive Director.
I am no longer a Mennonite, I am no longer Christian. I no longer dream of flying.
I AM
I am a reader. I am a poet. I am curious. I am a father who loves his children and grandchildren.
I am a sibling in good relationships with my brother and my sister.
I AM NOT
I am not Joan of Arc. I am not Catherine the Great. I am not Queen Victoria.
I am not Menno Simons. I am not Sigmund Freud. I am not Karl Marx,
I am not Robert Kroetsch, I am not Pat Lane. I am not Andris Taskans.
I am not Leonard Cohen. I am not Lenny Breau. I am not Lenny Bruce.
I am not Jack London, I am not Jack Layton, I am not Jack Kerouac.
I am not Gwendolyn McEwan, I’m not Milton Acorn, I am not John Newlove.
I am not Hart Crane, I am not Theodore Roethke, I’m not John Berryman.
I am not Randal Jarrell, I am not Robert Lowell, I am not Elizabeth Bishop.
I am not Sylvia Plath, I am not Ted Hughes, I am not Anne Sexton.
I am not Robin Williams. I am not Anthony Bourdain. I am not Spalding Gray.
BUT I have one thing they don’t. The secret of life – always Breathe.
(according to Christopher Durang, and Jon Kabat Zinn) ALWAYS BREATHE!
I AM STILL BREATHING. So I am what you’ve got.
BINGO! I AM VICTOR ENNS, AND YOU’RE NOT!