What a Good Man Looks Like

-- I developed an odd theory about people this year, and I’m still not sure if it’s entirely viable, but I thought I’d explore a character coming up with the same hypothesis. Here it is: If you find you’re not getting somewhere with someone, is it that they’re just not responding to you, or do you just need to try a different approach? What if you were constantly trying to get somebody to see that you’re perfect for them, and all you’re doing wrong is assuming that showing you’re the nicest person is going to seal the deal? Here’s the old poet Lyle (I guess this would have to be a prequel to the latest Lyle pieces) talking to a woman he just can’t treat bad. –

P.S. If you guessed that I was listening to blues music in my head while writing this, you’re right.

“What a Good Man Looks Like”

Look at me

Do I look familiar?
I doubt you’d recognize
My eyes look kind
So perhaps you’re unwise
To who exactly I am

I can make your house
Look like a florist shop
Drop my guard
And write you vulnerable poems
Of deep-seated desire
Releasing the fire of unreturned love
Onto your blessed ears
But you won’t hear

Cause I can’t treat you bad

I can make you a picnic
But being a dick
Would get me further
Into your pants
Than a slow dance
In a glittery ballroom
With me a tux
And you in a gown
In some Manhattan-esque town
Down on a shore
With the ships coming in

I can make you grin
I can make you laugh
And get a few points
On my own behalf
But I can’t have your heart
Because taking you apart
Then reattaching your pieces
Seems silly to me
And cruel

I can be your fool
But I can’t treat you bad

I can be a good man
Stand up for you
In barfights
When barflies peruse you
Abuse you gleefully with their eyes
While I catch a smile
Creep onto your face
Stuck in a place so degrading
Defacing your pristine skin
With the grime of their hands
On back as they pass you
Or trash you once you turn around
I’d send them all to the ground
With one scrawny fist
Get my nose all bloody
And ruddy my clothes
But do it proudly
For I have defended your honor
Amended their notion
Of what they can say
Think twice when I’m in the room

I want to be your groom
But I can’t treat you bad

I can’t creep out on you
Or denounce you
In front of your friends

I can’t not return your calls
About balls you want to go to
Pretend I don’t have that tux
Already rented
And laundered
Squander opportunities
To see you happy

I can’t not touch you tenderly
I have to use a gentle touch
For fear I’d break you
While others crash you
Smashing you into their problems
Their issues
Their ups and downs
Their frowns keep you coming back
For the challenge
Of attacking their psychosis
While osmosis puts that poison
Into you

There’s a lot I can do
But I can’t treat you bad

So if you want to know
What a good man looks like
He looks like me
Standing here
In the square near your house
Letting snow fall on my face
Looking for a trace of warmth
In this cold cruel place

It’s amazing to be
So close to a woman
I can’t get close to
Unless I’m willing
To push her away

I can write all poems all day
But I can’t treat you bad