Sheila Israel

There have been stories for decades now before labels and after labels.  

I think they’re my stories, but I don’t know for sure. I didn’t sit down and make them up, and I don’t know where they came from.  

They played vividly in my mind as if I was only observing them, not creating them.  

The stories are important to me because they have been a place I have gone to remember them when there has been no other hope

and because they have been with me longer than any real time human friend and with me longer than labels.

When there were no more stories that seemed to come from somewhere else, I started to create some 

I felt I owned more but still part of them feel like it comes from somewhere else.