An instant

simple questions are often the hardest to answer.

"who are you?"

surely I'm more than a name,

but that's all that ever seems to come to mind

as I rack my brain, trying to find

a response that will satisfy

the question.

and of course,

I respond with my name.

unable to determine if I am

anything of substance beyond the moments

in which I remember that I exist.

sometimes I wish

I was the same human being

back in the summer of 2018

halfway across the world

wandering the streets of a city

in a country full of people and languages

I simply did not know.

an adventurer. or an artist-

at least, in the days after.

in the time spent

longing to be that person again

I settled for the liquid removal

of inhibitions just to get close

to what the best moments of my life felt like:

free. completely.

and maybe my name could mean that...

except

they always repeat it back to me incorrectly.