Then Nemesis, Niece, Speak To Me About Your Past Experience, Your Ongoing Vision Poem by Dennis Ryan

Monday morning, February 17, 2014; Friday morning, April 7, 2023

'A bird will break its wing … and there isn't anything to comfort me.'
—Jann Arden, Canadian singer and songwriter

— a poem for my niece Heidi Poppendeck, though she may not claim it

Even as you speak, you are nemesis,
niece, and after the deed is done, once
I am laid waste, what then? Actions are
irreversible. I can forgive you nothing now
though I have already forgiven myself for
many past mistakes as my intentions are
well-directed unlike yours towards me.
(What a major disappointment you have
proven to be.) See yourself. See yourself
from a distance, envision yourself on a lone,
faraway promontory, see yourself from one
distinct perspective, then speak to me about
your past experience and ongoing vision—
Indebted as you are to both your parents
and to me, you repaying me with the very
last cardinal droplets of blood betrayal.