Can’t do anything about him,
He marches to the beat of
His own something or other,
Doesn’t listen much to what
Anyone is saying at any time,
Prefers instead to just launch
Into whatever he wants to do
At that particular moment,
Regardless of the outcome and
In spite of what it might do
To the real people around him.
She’s made her choice:
Careening through
Life spewing hate
And divisiveness.
Sure, she makes a lot
Of money, and is often
Recognized in restaurants,
But that’s where it ends.
When she gets home and
Takes off the persona,
She has to live with
What she’s become.
So calm today
But, yesterday,
What an ordeal.
No idea what to do,
Everything he said
Was wrong,
Each word incinerated
In a roaring furnace,
Each gesture rebuffed
With animosity.
Some days
Are just like that,
He tells himself.
Still not sure
Exactly what happened,
He may never
Understand.
Threatened by someone,
For any reason,
Yet again, as always,
The latest sacrifice to his ego.
He pretends to be friendly
While surreptitiously making plans
To remove the offensive interloper,
Bane of his existence,
Pretender to the throne.
Tilting back in his chair,
He smiles to himself,
Admiring his own cleverness,
His natural ability to
Beat them all,
Vanquish imagined adversaries.
He’ll never apologize,
No matter how much
Suffering and havoc he’s caused,
Incapable of admitting wrongdoing,
Unable to expose that part of him
That drives his every move,
A weeping wound
That never heals,
An unraveling tear
In the fabric of his self,
Dictating every reaction
To every perceived attack,
No one allowed to
See it in all its fragility.
Sitting across from her
Therapist, Kelly asks
Why all men are so
Messed up and hurt nice
Women like her
Over and over.
The answer turns out to
Be the the same as the one
From the faraway voice
In the back of her mind:
They are a product of
Insecure fathers and
The women who put up
With them.
Kelly mulls over this
New bit of information
And resolves that the
Cycle ends with her.
He was afraid of
Peace and love
An all it might do
To upend his life,
The time he’d have
To spend looking inward,
Examining his warts,
Why he believed
What he did,
His abiding mistrust of
Others and championing
Of causes that
Damaged others.
Worst of all,
He’d have to spend
Time with himself.
Begrudgingly dropping off
His kids at the summer program,
Only after repeatedly being
Asked to by his wife,
Without consideration of
Arriving too early and forcing
The staff to act as babysitters,
An interruption in a life where
He’s never had to think of
Anything but himself,
Throwing his weight around,
Never asking for permission,
Everyone there to acquiesce to
His every imposition.
