Narcissistic Parasitism

I.

big juicy rationalizations

I reclaim the term as
my own despite
its association from your larynx

(though it sprung
fully formed from my head as well)

What things will we do
and say to save face

II.

for example,
my great-great-grandfather

some mercenary
family myth would have it

may have actually
been a true believer

in the cause of
northern oppression

(or at least
southern oppression
of the poor)

covered up for generations
a way to keep in social standing
and not be expelled

III.

In short,

I am not Freddie
of Red Skelton fame

I did not
embed myself
in your bank account

I offered you only love
not ulterior motives

I was interested in your
mind
not your pocketbook.

But you with your
self-fulfilling miseries

your outs
your insecurities

you projected
this aura of parasitism
upon me

a trap I walked
into quite neatly.

IV.

your own personal mythology
(my term, not yours)

I do not believe in
your sob story of bootstraps
wrested upwards
abandonment

urchins cast into cruel worlds
of Dickensian poverty

You miss the cat's suede touch, Lulu.
Your lucky break
merely coat-tail riding

by the coat maker.

but who wags the tail?

-5 March 2007