Jane Blanchard

Braggarts

Their own successes are their only themes.
They mention neither failures nor mishaps.
They cannot help themselves, or so it seems.

They say they have fulfilled their wildest dreams.
They pulled themselves up solely by bootstraps.
Their own successes are their only themes.

Their rhetoric is partial toward extremes.
Their narratives are far too full of gaps.
They cannot help themselves, or so it seems.

They talk about their current winning schemes.
They keep their latest losses under wraps.
Their own successes are their only themes.

Their fool’s gold may be false, but how it gleams.
Their doubters are to them no more than saps.
They cannot help themselves, or so it seems.

Their egotism absolutely teems.
They never let a conversation lapse.
Their own successes are their only themes.
They cannot help themselves, or so it seems.

A native Virginian, Jane Blanchard lives and writes in Georgia. Her latest collection with Kelsay Books is Metes and Bounds (2023).