CLICK HERE TO HEAR AUTHOR READ
I don't reflect on anything
that's not about me
the image in the mirror
is all that I can see
the lonely snow-capped mountain
the anxious storm-tossed lake,
the calmly spoken thought
the slip-of-tongue mistake
the determined bumblebee
the patient foxglove
the stories we've been told
about the God above
the homeless on the street
the politician's rhetoric
the art in the museum
that appeals to my aesthetic
the news always breaking
about the wars being fought
or terrorist attacks
that kill a lot
Instagram and Twitter
my Facebook page feed
and something else called TikTok
provide everything I need
I am what I take in
with a degree of empathy
if you call me a narcissist
I won't disagree
it’s always about me
always about me.
3 comments:
You've got some power rhymes here:
foxglove and above
rhetoric and anesthetic
empathy and disagree.
These are wonderful!
But the poem seems ironic. Of course we are all narcissists. That's a given. But your awareness and acknowledgement of all these things outside of yourself undermines your narcissm! This poem seems to be a kind of geometric proof that you are actually less of a narcissist than you claim to be!
I've been called a narcissist more times than I'd like to admit in my life. And yeah, I guess that since it's something I struggle with, maybe it means that I'm not such a narcissist. You're right of course that we all have narcissistic tendencies, so it's more a scale than black and white. The difference seems to be that a 'malignant' narcissist (if that's the term for an extreme one) is only capable of seeing how everything and everyone around them can serve their needs. In other words it's a denial of, I'll call it the dignity and integrity, (in some respects the very 'existence') of others and everything outside of oneself. The world is merely a function of my meaning and whims. For an artist who always thinks about how they are feeling about the world around as part of their metier, and trying to express it as best they can, narcissistic tendencies must be a struggle. And yet, a great artist does the very opposite of denying the existence of the world. By their expression, they make it more dimensional and alive for us.
All art is narcissistic. If it weren't so, we might as well give up. What can I -- little ol' me -- add to what's already been written? The only excuse I have for attempting to write is my reliance on the idea -- which may or may not be true -- that no one has ever experienced the world exactly like me, and only I can articulate my unique experience of the world. Whether or not anyone else is interested is another story.
So, let us celebrate our narcissism! It's all we've got.
Post a Comment