Life is all a pose in a way. And I don’t mean that in a fake way. We all have our public faces that we put together in the morning when we wake up.

And I’m somebody’s son. I’m somebody’s brother. I’m somebody’s uncle. I’m somebody’s friend. I’m somebody’s enemy. I’m somebody’s acquaintance. I’m somebody who drew cartoons they used to read in a fanzine. And countless other roles.

Everybody that knows me has their opinion about me. Some flattering. Some not so. Sometimes it seems like there are thousands of Ace Backwords walking around out there. Everyone has their own particular Ace Backwords that they’ve culled up in their minds.

If you collected all of these Ace Backwords together in one room they would all look different. Some would look handsome. Some would look ugly. Some would look cool. Some would look like fools. Some would look wise. Some would look confused.

I got my own particular Ace Backwords that I carry around in my head. One of the thousands of Ace Backwords’ walking around out there. Everybody gets the Ace Backwords they deserve.

Ace Backwords is a homeless writer and artist who lives in Berkeley, California. You can find more writing on his blogs.