the architect

So, what is your talent?
They ask you.
You were warned against immodesty.
Result: A second long hesitation.
World’s shortest sparring match
ends with candour beating discretion
“I am an expert architect”.
They exchange glances.

“But I must admit
I build only for myself.”
They frown.
Peddlers of hope, vanguards of meaning
tend to be wary of narcissism.
And yet these peddlers of hope and
vanguards of meaning are also heroes
of a perpetual ethical, existential Baywatch.
Instinctively, they swoop in to rescue you,
throwing your way a potentially lifesaving buoy
to tow you to safe shores -
Interesting. What have you built so far?
What is your speciality?
You smile, despite yourself.
at the incorrigibility of both parties.
“My speciality?
Prisons.”

Someone somewhere dabs
as you step out
with a new building plan
clear in your head.