From The Manifesto of The Selfish
Because altruists are the least sexy
people on earth, unable
to say “I want” without embarrassment,
we need to take from them everything
they give,
then ask for more,
this is how to excite them, and because
it’s exciting
to see them the least bit excited
once again we’ll be doing something
for ourselves,
who have no problem taking pleasure,
always desirous and so pleased to be
pleased, we who above all
can be trusted to keep the balance.
-stephen dunn
Mon Semblable
No man has ever dared to describe himself as he truly is.—Camus
I like things my way
every chance I get.
A limit doesn’t exist
when it comes to that.
But please, don’t confuse
what I say with honesty.
Isn’t honesty the open yawn
the unimaginable love
more than truth?
Anonymous among strangers
I look for those
with hidden wings,
and for scars
that those who once had wings
can’t hide.
Though I know it’s unfair,
I reveal myself
one mask at a time.
Does this appeal to you,
such slow disclosures,
a lifetime perhaps
of almost knowing one another?
I would hope you, too,
would hold something back,
and that you’d always want
whatever unequal share
you had style enough to get.
Altruism is for those
who can’t endure their desires.
There’s a world
as ambiguous as a moan,
a pleasure moan
our earnest neighbors
might think a crime.
It’s where we could live.
I’ll say I love you,
which will lead, of course,
to disappointment,
but those words unsaid
poison every next moment.
I will try to disappoint you
better than anyone ever has.
—Stephen Dunn
Look out, world!
www.theselby.com
Actually, I sort of do.
you being in love
will tell who softly asks in love,
am i separated from your body smile brain hands merely
to become the jumping puppets of a dream? oh i mean:
entirely having in my careful how
careful arms created this at length
inexcusable, this inexplicable pleasure—you go from several
persons: believe me that strangers arrive
when i have kissed you into a memory
slowly, oh seriously
—that since and if you disappear
solemnly
myselves
ask “life, the question how do i drink dream smile
and how do i prefer this face to another and
why do i weep eat sleep—what does the whole intend”
they wonder. oh and they cry “to be, being, that i am alive
this absurd fraction in its lowest terms
with everything cancelled
but shadows
—what does it all come down to? love? Love
if you like and i like,for the reason that i
hate people and lean out of this window is love, love
and the reason that i laugh and breathe is oh love and the reason
that i do not fall into this street is love.”