Melodrama in the Words

Melodrama in the Words

what are heroes
without villains? 
what is life
without death?
what is knowing
without ignorance?
what are the words
of the victim
without an offender
to accuse?
from gospels
to tragedies
to comic books
the melodrama of archenemies
a mother or father
a cheating 
or abusive
spouse or lover
the villainy
of whatever tyrant
a crooked biology
a crooked world
the crooked crowd
something to claw at
something to give the writer
meaning 
through his words
a petty hero
conflating his villains
real villains
sometimes
who perhaps
don't deserve
the ugly
abstract portraiture
of the petty hero's
petty words
them 
the scratching post
of his emptiness
simultaneous contrast
in art
the hero
surrounded by dark hues
of petty villainy
looking lighter
and brighter
in the center of it all
mere vanity
the centerpieced
hue of heroism
just as petty
as the petty villain's
own hues
the cries of a petulant child
if that's all it is
then, my villains
i'm sorry
to you
and the reader
who sure as shit
deserve a far better hero
one with the powers
and courage
to confront the villains
of the cosmos
deserving a hero
far better
than this one
the accuser of petty crimes
of jaywalking
spitting on sidewalks
and high crimes 
against courtesy
instead of humanity
exploiting what ya got
cause we don't all have
the powers of the heroes
of ancient lore
the excuse
for crying alone
in a room
not on a page
anymore
but over a keyboard
the petulant child
the petty hero
crying
fighting
unaware
necessarily
unconditionally
of the difference
between tragic
and heroic
far more the tragedy
of a hog in a slaughterhouse
panicking
squealing
thrashing about
the misery of self-doubt
no comparison
to atalanta
abandoned at birth
nursed by bears
virgin huntress
racer for love
drawing first blood
from the rampaging
majestic boar
unlike hers
our pretty villains
the meat
to the bloodthirsty carnivore 
stalking with cowardly words
instead of 
horses
hunting hounds
and spears
or
our petty villains
mere greens
easily plucked
or uprooted
by whimpering herbivores
who long
to be
so much more