You Too Now

Any self is a hybrid
Of animal and culture,
A third thing that emerges
From the creatures hosting names.

Observe someone chewing food,
Cleaning themselves, staring out
Through a rain-spotted window,
And note some creaturely self.

Read a text left by the dead
Decades, centuries ago,
You’ll sense the zombie presence
Of a lost cultural self

Take residence in your head,
Become part of who you are.