by Ruth S. Baker

“We say: ‘I am not myself today,’ but we never say: ‘Myself is not my I today.’”
—Chris Evans in The Times

“Myself is not my I today”
Is something I would never say.
How could myself be otherwise?
It’s hard to think of alibis.
Though “I am not myself” may be
Conceivably expressed by me,
The coda’s easy to supply:
“Which nonetheless is still my I.”