speech from an old man to young women in poetry

they train you from an early age
in fairy tales and rock songs
to chase after monsters

in the hopes that catching one
and taming it
and finding that
little piece
of good inside
deep down where it hides
that no one else can see
will prove that you are
unique
a special snowflake
a magical pretty pretty princess

which is on its face
poisonously narcissistic on your end
and patently false on his
ninety-nine percent of the time
beneath the leather jacket
and the whiskey haze
he's monster all the way down
and one-hundred-percent of the time
you're not a magical fairy princess
you're a member of the human race
welcome to it
but it's all just a bunch of lies
made up to get
the monsters laid
no matter how much of your life
is wasted in the chase

you're better than a princess
you're a person
and that monster isn't mean
because he's wounded inside
his pre-faded designer jeans
he's mean because
he's a pick-up artist
negatively reinforcing you
through the Mystery Method
and as far as he's concerned
you might as well be Kleenex tissue
there to soak up his seed
and then to be discarded
because you've let yourself believe
he's secretly big-hearted
and only your special sparkly pony magic
can unlock that key

no
he's just an asshole

stop chasing monsters
like the television told you to
find a man who's good up-front
and allow him to love you
the less time you spend chasing
a demon with a flawless face
the less time you waste

you're not a princess
you're a person
you're real
and that's so much better