these days i know of only one person who can...

diminish my
accomplishments
cutting me to the heart
with caustic compliments

who can stop me in my tracks with the insular bitterness that belches forth

who can cause me to revert to that young teenage girl with a backpack of bundled insecurities carried close to her heart

who can make the smallest joy a guilt-ridden pleasure

who can make my home with it's welcoming clutter feel like a battlefield after a hurricane

who can make my happiness appear to be a fleeting flash in the pan

who can dispute my intelligence as smoke and mirrors

who can **** the bright from my day & the joy from my life
blithely oblivious to it all

and the dumb thing in all of this is...........

i invited her to stay in my home while we build a granny flat for her in our back yard.