Where Ourselves are Concerned

Where Ourselves are Concerned


Yves asks why it is
the majority of us
are most proud
of things about ourselves
we aren't responsible for –

happy temperament,
well turned ankle,
facility with words,
photographic memory,
bee stung lips,
mathematical genius,
endless supply of energy,
mahogany tresses,
voice of 3 octave range –

why it is
we only fail to take credit
when we feel we're not good enough
so that the talent/gene/gift
haunts us like inverted vanity –

why the I Me Mine
of high self-esteem
blinks more often than not
myopically the better
to be able to hold fast
to belief in the superiority
of I Me Mine.

I say to such queries only that
people love us best
for the things we're least
responsible for – that must be it –
that must be why

we chronically make no sense
where ourselves are concerned.