Tuesday, March 19, 2019

IDENTITY

It’s Poetics Tuesday.  Gina has asked us
to ponder how our writing inspiration
and our occupation interact.  I’m retired
now, so it isn’t an issue, but once in the
long ago I paused to think about my
identity…the executive me and the
inner me.. Here were my thoughts back
in about 1995...(of course in one of my
folksy little rhymes),
******************
It’s important to know yourself, they say
Retain your identity
If that’s the case, then I’m okay
I’ve always known I’m me.

They call me lady executive
In the job that I have now
But I’m the same little farm girl
Who used to milk the cow.

I sit in on business luncheons
Where we all discuss loss and profit
But I’m the moppet who drove the tractor
When I could barely climb on and off it.

My co-workers think me efficient
And sometimes even wise
But I’m that same pudgy dreamer
Who used to catch fireflies.

Sometimes when I look in the mirror
I can hardly suppress a smile
Admittedly the exterior is changing,
But inside it’s been me all the while.

The inside me likes to take the time
To take up paper and pen
And indulge in childhood memories
And record my “remember whens”. 

19 comments:

  1. I love this, and being in still active at work, trying to be efficient I sometimes seek for the child inside (but I think I was rather an awkward little boy, so I often end up blushing)

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    1. I suspect we ALL went through that awkward phase, Bjorn!

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  2. i adore this Beverly, the little girl and country spirit that never got drowned out in the hectic city life and corporate challenge. How very sweet that you keep her humming strong and vibrant still, i love the last part about writing the I remember when's!

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    1. Thank you, Gina. The country roots were (and are) strong.

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  3. I love the humble honesty of this poem, Bev, especially in the lines:
    ‘They call me lady executive
    In the job that I have now
    But I’m the same little farm girl
    Who used to milk the cow’.

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    1. Thanks, Kim. I've always tried to be humbly honest, sometimes to a fault!

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  4. Even when I was nothing like I am now it amazes me that "I’ve always known I’m me."

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    1. Well, you're not nothing, Frank, you're just a different version of you!!

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  5. I can relate when you say, its always me in the inside. Love that you keep the girl inside you alive, a dreamer
    Who used to catch fireflies. Keep recording your memories.

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  6. I love the tractor image. :)

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  7. Nice. We cannot escape what we have within us.

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  8. This is so wonderful, Bev! I can you on that big tractor...we've had five "moppets"of our own. Glad to know your farming experience helped make you successful in the wider world :)

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  9. Every moment, whether it's a lasting memory or a slight tic in a montage of events, shapes our being, and you capture that well, here.

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  10. We really are who we have always been. Love this!

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  11. I love that you know who you are inside.

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  12. It saddens me that many of the people we interact with in our jobs, etc. never really see where we came from, who we really are. I love the way you weave this idea together.

    ~Mish~

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  13. I love all the comparisons, and the fact that you are secure in both worlds.

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  14. Oh this resonates with me. I'm a farm girl working in a professional world, where the two don't always fit but truly inside we are who we are. Love this! <3

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