a new person every day in poetry

you wake up a new person every day
which sounds amazing except
that also means
every night when you fall asleep
you die and then
you wake up a new person every day

which could be very exciting
or very very very depressing
depending which person
you happen to be today

maybe today you woke up
as the kind of person invigorated
by the new opportunities
that being a new person
who just happens to have the
same face represents

maybe today you woke up
as the kind of person who will brood
mourn the person you had been before
wandering around sullen and sad
about the universe’s wicked lack
of existential object permanence
how every time you look away to sleep
you disappear to the peekaboo of
fleeting consciousness every night
when your tired head hits the pillow

you wake up a new person every day
reset as someone who just looks like you
someone who just sounds like you
someone who acts like you if you
don’t decide to make a change
the only thing that you can do
is decide to be the kind of person
excited by the possibilities
instead of depressed by your
life long string of
thousands and thousands of death
all you can do is wake up
as this new woman or new man
trying your best
to make a positive spin on the fact that
you wake up a new person every day
wake up