ode to the facebook friend

ode to the facebook friend

dear distant facebook friend, thank you
for the tender ministrations, the teaspoons
of smug bile and the lessons in English about
the nuances of language... in the years spent
apart you have learnt to hate rather well the
small and the not so small things and deserve
a timeless tribute of unshaken loyalty

dear distant facebook friend, to honor
the poison i shall play the roles you want
turn into the father of the friend who mocked
you when you took him the wedding invite
the lover who took your money to sleep with
someone else and the friend who refuses to
meet you when you are in the same city

dear distant facebook friend, to please you
i shall burn a few trees, spit at the sky
hide behind a wall and throw stones at passers by
smear my face with animal blood, mock those
who care for me and chide others who don’t
care enough run around in circles in the
backyard of a few happy memories

dear distant facebook friend, to bless you
i will journey in time to 14th century Italy
to seek the original mask from commedia del arts
not the politician, nor the doctor, nor the commander
but the harlequin full of despair for not
being clever enough to wipe the pain of the
dispossessed, content to mock the mirror

Vijay Nair