New Poem - Dancing in Plato's Cave

Lights from
adjoining rooms
cast a
shadow collage
on living
room walls,
                   my life,
a gray
          scale tableau.  

The men
in Plato's
cave have
one
       fire
casting shadows; 
                           I've many.

My form
on closed
blinds is
doubled and
overlaps, is
                  layered and
multiplied, is
closer to
whole and
complete, is
                   nearly one
                   and true
like my
self image.

I try
to push
my shades
                 together.  They
are not
solid as
they appear;
             the man          
             who leaves
             the cave
             learns this
             truth too. 

To make
a single
silhouette,
                I
must move
the lights
or stand
             in a
                    different place. 

If I want more

than a solid outline

of myself, my life,

I must dance around

the fire - throwing my

likeness on every wall.