he knows as well as she in novels
that deflection onto other’s tales
never masks the true protagonist
and a melodramatic dénouement
to an over-complicated plot
will only fall eventually into farce
all the misunderstood narratives
because misunderstood remain
broken threads beneath a loom
yet still the tale he tells so clearly
differs enough from her by degrees
to cause his clichéd story to collapse
he wants to offer more than infidelity
yet knows how these stories unfold
so withholds his true exegesis
(April 2013)
