A Poetic Reprise, with Explanations

Today is going to be another errand day, but I did want to leave you all with something.

I've posted this poem before, but I've never bothered to tell the story behind it. Once upon a time, in a younger incarnation, I was friends with someone who was documenting the life story of a minor celebrity. This minor celebrity, by then nearly 60, wasn't the most emotionally stable of characters and lived, with no apology, in a state of suspended adolescence. He dated a series of women in either music, art, or both who attempted to leech off of his name in an effort to jump start their own flagging careers. So I wrote this poem as a means of examining that situation, all the time recognizing that both of the principle characters in question had major personal problems, hoping to make it clear that I was placing the fault equally upon both of their shoulders.




Parasite

Woman
latches on to her
latest significant other

quotes verbatim an
exaggerated litany of
his greatest hits

minus

of course
the tragic missteps

her role as spokesperson for
a private P.R. campaign
unprepared for

heavy scrutiny
aiming for
easy ego-stroking

flattery famously conceals
desire for legacy absorption
parallel parasites
blind to their hosts