Why I Can't Take Compliments Poem by Jackie Chou

They come at the wrong time,
when I'm in the middle of gouging my eyes out,
for the cringe-worthy reflection
looking back at me in the mirror,

and the poetry.
They rhyme and the rhymes are forced.
They sound too narrative and not lyrical enough.
They're too romantic and not political enough.
They're too general, as

I cannot describe the velvety feel of a petal,
the pattern on the wings of a butterfly,
the exact notes of a wren's song.

I grew up in the city with hungry pigeons.
Have no knowledge to write about anything
but my own life, if even that.

You've caught me at the wrong time.
I wear a hundred daggers,
to kill your praises one by one,

under the ugly yellow lamplight.