Life in a Paper Bag

"Are you somebody?"

I was asked again and again

in the glamorous city of angels,

Los Angeles.



Was I unseen as I was,

and seen

only for who I might be?



Life had been filled

with challenges

and change,

dangerous, glorious, absurd and terrifying.



Trained to conform,

I navigated

with well-practiced denial

and a good dose of Aussie humor.



A photograph

of my nose

was taken beside Charlton Heston.



Constantly surprised by life

I was humbled

by the courage of others.



I learned

that it is possible to love a fish.



Following a near death experience,

hundreds of cards

admonished me

that it was 'Time for me to look after myself,"



I thought I was.