there is a feedback loop

between what you say about me

and what i want you to say

so i adjust my internal switches and levers

to get you to say

and when it is not

what i would prefer

i will twist a dial

and pull a lever

then look back out through

my windshield eyes

and listen

going back to adjusting

until what you say

is what i’d like to hear said about me

and then i stay

mostly the same

until someone says something else

(sometimes myself)

that i don’t like to hear