Start with a Whole Life, Remove that Double You

In fiction, you can get yourself out of there
And still involve human character. It’s tough

To do that when writing straight from memories.
What memories do you have of anyone

That don’t involve embodied you stuck in there,
Right in the middle of your life, as you were?

What if you don’t want to write about yourself?
Any decentering is subtle deceit—

You could try third-person, like Henry Adams,
Or you could rewrite memory with a shift

In perspective, throw your voice, ventriloquist,
Gertrude Stein writing as Alice B. Toklas.

You could try any number of devices,
But if you’re writing down peopled memories

It’s got to be fiction or you’re stuck with you.
In poems, you cut a hole there thoughts can slip through.