Being talked about...

“The only thing worse than being talked about

Is not being talked about”

--So they say whoever they are.

But gossip can make a man go underground

Find the height of the radar

And figure out how to fly below it.

The acid wash of hearsay.

The sandblasting of slander.

The chemotherapy of calumny.

The gangrene of the grapevine.

The poison of prattle.

The injury of idle talk.

The toll on the soul

Fighting this straw man

Fending and Defending the bastion

Of one’s integrity and dignity

From the bastard bandits 

Who would strip you blind and naked

Though they call it conversation.

Innocent chitchat.

But the back-fence chatter

The ‘small talk’ makes huge headlines

The scuttlebutt guised as storytelling

This airing of dirty laundry 

Makes one feel like they’re wearing dirty linen.

--it’s Dirty.

Whispering Campaigns--

Subcultures of special interest groups

Lobbying for their very life with yours

Telling tales like Mother Goose

Cooking any goose and every gander

And whatever else fits in the 

Caldron of blathering stew

As they stew over you.

How does one steel themselves

Against the onslaught of secret slaughter?

How does one keep a soft heart

While developing thick skin?

How does one maintain a love for people

When their affections be so fickle?

How did Jesus do it?