Nemesis

(Poetry Scales 42) 

When you close the book you see
the arch villain is not
the antagonist,
but rather the alter ego.

Clark Kent doesn’t fight Luther
so much as the man with
the tights and the cape.

Perhaps it is a good credo:
I know whom I’m meant to be
but paint the monster and
give myself to doubt.

When it comes to the task before me
I am my own nemesis.