sort of "best of" poem of the day 02.24.16

deep in the novel writing...so poems coming slow.
this isn't a best of poem...i don't think i ever put this up here (there were reasons at the time)
so here goes:

my enemy

i have an enemy

he’s been sharpening his hatred for me for years

keeping it all stored for a later date

he is the simplest of pronouns

he claims that i have family issues

that i never got along with daddy

that mommy never loved me

that i’m so negative because i didn’t  grow up right

he has a degree in psychology

that’s decades old

my enemy claims to be freud

but i feel like machiavelli whenever he’s around

he’s a pretty big failure all the same

failed at being a spouse

failed at being a human being

he used to piss himself

and once he shit his pants on the way to the movies

everyone says my enemy is harmless

he’s just jealous because his life didn’t pan out

and now he’s facing the tattered end of the line

i don’t know if i believe them

i can see the murder in the man’s eyes

the perverse joy he takes in hating me

plus people have caught him shouting about me

into his cellphone

kicking at walls as he spewed invective and threats

he once claimed to want to kill me

i believe his hatred for me gives him a purpose

and a reason to wake up in the morning

everyone is somebody’s villain

everyone is somebody’s asshole

i’m his

my enemy

what can i really do about him?

he keeps my poems and stories

in a crisp manila folders

as evidence of my cruelty toward him

and the rest of humanity

he wants me hung for making art

out of my scrap heap life

i had no clue that he was such a fan

i’m thinking of dedicating my next book him

giving him a signed copy

the next time that i see him

with an inscription that’ll read

dear enemy,

thank you from the bottom of my heart

for all of your time and energy

for all of your dedication and support

for all of those sleepless nights

for the sad and pathetic troll of a shit stain that you are

on this old world

and for the strong man that your weakness

and petty resolve

have forced me to become

i couldn’t have done it all without you                            07.25.12/08.06.12