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GUISE

So think about other interests I
could develop, that are closer to the
traditional interests of women?

I could do some acting.  But I
know what amateur actresses are like...
endless histrionics, life treated as a
series of scenes, infinite vanity, an                           PNASH
obsession with style, an absence of
substance.                               (Am I an actor?  Not
                                         really, but I can
Am I a writer?  I don't work             fake it really well
at it hard enough to claim to            if I believe in the
be a writer.  I used to                  lines I'm reciting.)
though.  In some ways, I think
like one.  At least like a
certain kind of writer.        (I know, I know... my prose    
                               style could use a little work.)
                                  			      
But then sitting at home,
banging on a keyboard, is not
really a great way to meet
chicks.  Or impress them.
However much they might like
the idea of hanging out with
someone who's a writer, it
just isn't that much fun to go
out with someone who stays
home weekends to get the next
story in the mail.

Really: I am not the island,
the pure individual that
I'd like to be.
I care somewhat about what      Just a regular guise.  (Just one of the guise?)
other people think about
me, just not as much as other
people do?  Is it all a matter
of degree?  *merely* a matter                 A torrent of puns, none of
of degrees...                                 which I can get to make sense:
                                              Third degree.
                                              Give them the third degree!
Looking for an extreme I can embrace,         Treat them to third degree burns.
an ideal I can chase after,                   Master degrees.
a line I can definitely cross,
a side I can be on.

   
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