Long hours, few breaks, very little pay - yes, I work "for myself."

See my website: www.risingdove.com I have lots of goodies for musicians there. As to being my own person - well - I've got hundreds of alters. I think that's probably a "no, but I'm working on it."

Here's the announcement I made a few years ago when I decided to emerge from the closet. It didn't work very well because lots of people thought I was kidding.

Anybody want to contribute a tune?

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"A Public Confession" (Or, "Oh! That Explains It!")

The limerick's not quite appropriate For passing along diagnoses. It May seems like a joke To the skeptical folk; But it's better than having an Oprah fit.

Limerickal rhythm and rhyme, Many alters consider, is chyme. But "Silly Wife," (who'ce Also called "Silly Goose") Is having a wonderful time!

My announcement of multiple alter -s has caused some relations to falter. One says, "That explains it!" Another complains, "It Has brought me to tears of salt walter."

Multiplicity has its distractions, Yet there are a few minor attractions. "But you said…." "Oh, that's blarney! It must have been Barney!" May serve as excuse for my actions.

Forgive me; poetic pronouncement Is such a weird form of announcement! I tried other ways: In a hint; in a haze - But my efforts were not worth an ouncement.

My verses have sparked a dichotomy: Did they hear? I'm not sure, and I oughta be, So I add this refrain: MPD is a pain, But it's better than frontal lobotomy.

Perhaps even this is not clear If your DSM-IV† is not near, But I can't scan "Disorder" And "Multiple" (in order) "Personality," and rhyme it, dear!

"How many are there?" That's prime! I can't count them, but dozens can rhyme. If each one inserts "Just one more:" one last verse, It will go on a very long time.

My mother's the last one to know it, Though often, if subtly, I show it. To family and friends, My apology ends: "What I am, after all, is a poet *. "

* My husband, Tim, says he thinks the statement in the last line is questionable, when applied to those who write limericks! † DSM-IV is Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. That's not anapestic.

copyright 2000 Miriam A. Kilmer (Non-commercial use is free. All other rights reserved.)

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As for the Miriam who wrote the three posts from 1998 - I'm not she. Not at all, no way, in no sense. I don't know who she is. I was allowed to take my desired nickname, "Miriam," because the other Miriam had been inactive for a long time. I've now changed my nickname from "Miriam" to "MiriamKilmer" in what will probably prove to be a fruitless effort to avoid confusion.

Coincidentally, I'm a Paul Robeson fan too, but I didn't get to the Paul Robeson exhibit at the New-York Historical Society. Why was I not informed?