Having an alter ego is a wonderful way to gain perspective on oneself. I heartily recommend it if you haven’t tried it. It’s especially nice when your alter ego communicates through writing. Whenever I sit down and allow the “Madisonnets” to flow through me, I always hear them in my inner ear in Madison’s distinctive voice. Yet, when I was reading through some recently, i found myself wondering. “Am I speaking or is Madison?” It’s that pesky personal pronoun thing. For instance, there’s this sonnet, “I know you keep saying that I have cause to hope.” To me, it is so clearly written in Madison’s voice, and yet it is also clearly my angst on display. After reading it aloud, I exclaimed, “Madison, you’re making fun of me!”, to which I heard the distinct reply, “No, my dear. I’m making fun with you!” Well, I just had to laugh! :-) And that’s the point: In this and in sonnets such as “Ode to the Economic Downturn”, Madison helps me to laugh at my troubles by exaggerating them. What more could one want or need from an alter ego?

I know you keep saying that I have cause to hope by Madison Hatta

I know you keep saying that I have cause to hope, But I feel as if I’m at the end of my rope! It’s spun of the finest imported silk, that’s true, And bought at half-price out along Fifth Avenue; Still, I feel as if I’m out dangling in mid-air With no help in sight, nor an offer of a chair! Though most frustrating, even unto distraction Is that this is not the result of inaction. I’ve tried, and again I’ve tried ever so hard To fashion the best out of this hand of cards That I’ve been dealt in this life, but to no avail. I ask you, what then is the point of my travail When all I have left to me is a bar of soap That someone stuck onto the far end of my rope?