January 7, 2003

  • I Suck

    The best thing he can say to me is that I suck
    he doesn’t know what else to say
    We have differences, and differences
    are fine
    really
    but all he knows how to say to me is
    that I suck

    He says I’m evil. I don’t think
    he thinks
    that I’m evil, but he says so
    because it’s all he knows
    to say

    He says I’m ignorant, that I’m
    willfully ruining his good
    thing,
    that I’m endangering the country
    by saying the things I say

    He doesn’t believe any of it
    except maybe the part about his
    good thing,
    but he says it all anyway.

    It’s all he knows.



    I tell him:

    You could change your story
    and I’d respond like a fellow
    human on this crowded planet
    where your ire and spittle
    are transformed by mere proximity
    into a rushing torrent that dwarfs
    everything, dwarfs the Columbia
    river, dwarfs the anger and fear in
    your heart.

    That’s its true purpose. Dwarfing
    the fear in your heart.

    Don’t be afraid of me. Unless you
    give me a reason to fight back.



    And the best thing he can say to me
    is that I suck. He wants to lose
    this battle with fear.