Otherself (Poetry)

There have been times I have imagined myself
an entirely different person. Someone who
has no fear. I stand a step or two outside
this otherself and watch the way things go

when meeting in the street a vague acquaintance
who thinks they know me. And I let the play run
a few lines just to test the part’s potential —
does it convince this audience of one?

If there’s any point to prove it could be this:
few are they who know another soul that well.
A change of heart; a change of mind, unlike style
                                of clothes —
the segue’s slick — too subtle — hard to tell...