Spite
I steal your mailbox, leave
gum on your sidewalk. I
seduce your sister, ignore your wife.
I tear one page from each of your books.
I convince you that I am your friend.
*
When people ask about you,
I shake my head. When they
tell about you, I nod.
*
Today, I hang myself
from a greased flagpole
outside your picture window.
Yesterday, I stole your curtains.
Copyright Credit: "Spite" from Velocities: New and Selected Poems 1966-1992 by Stephen Dobyns, copyright © 1994 by Stephen Dobyns. Used by permission of Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Source: Velocities: New and Selected Poems, 1966-1992 (Penguin Books, 1994)