the project

upon finding him
she thought that she’d stumbled onto some sort of
greatness,
of which she’d never encountered on her own,
during the passage of time in her whole life---
she thought that his greatness lay just beneath the surface
of this scruff of a man with an interesting glint in his eyes &
if she took him upon herself
if she bore the lot of him
if she adopted this
project,
she would be able to change him &
in doing so,
he would come to realize his full potential,
having her to owe
having her to need
having her to cherish
as the one directly responsible for his
success.

where such an impulse stems from,
what inadequacy drives one to believe
that to create a need in another
in order to feel needed &
in order to provide the want essential
to fill a gaping hole in oneself,
cannot be found in a few hours with a shovel &
a pickax---
even a decent sized construction crew
armed with heavy equipment &
all the time in the world
might not even scratch the surface.

bottom line---
no person is a “project” &
no project whose sole purpose is to
change another human being
will ever succeed
except in providing reason to avoid
anyone with the audacity to
try & do so.