I could not be a marketeer — so self-assured and focused on
believing a lie spun two moments ago from a cheap concoction
of ego and pride and determination to defraud.

So determined to manipulate, a diplomatic deception artist
armed with sticks and carrots, blackmail,
buttons best left unpressed,
salt for wounds otherwise left undressed,
for what? For nothing more than gain.
Some ruse pretending to ease a concealed pain,
befriending publicly, betraying privately,
a happy parasite, a bastard prick,
annoying tick who thinks he owns the entire dog.

A subtle case of assault and battery
with words of praise and flattery so shallow
but surprisingly effective. Springing for
a caffeine bribe and a side of empty promises
complete with appeals to greed and pretty rainbows,
just buying time and drawing nearer.

Drew a dagger in the process right along with
the occasional lip service and subliminal messages
to turn one’s back for a more convenient stabbing –
the ever-friendly marketeering grifter thief,
the quintessential money-worshipping scumbag idiot
ego circle-jerking ringleader mastermind expert on
being sincerely insincere. I could not be a marketeer.