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Interesting perspective about toxic empathy, how you need to make sure to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. You gotta love yourself before you can love others. That is where the sociopath in this poem wins

Haha, funny you tell me to remove "than him" because I already did 🤣. 

You've got quite a way with words, too. Pejorative, lionized, exalted, fertile, all used well. Nice. After I removed "than him," the overall uncertainty of the poem balanced itself out. Personally "maybe it's" still strikes me well, because it's suggestive rather than vague in the final draft, to me. I'll mull it over, though.

I appreciate the compliment on the title, I don't really know where it came from. But it sounded right when I was writing it.

I like this material.  It's a nice turn to start with the ease of the sociopath finding self love.  Sociopath is a term that is so pejorative and the idea of self-love one that is lionized and exalted in this cultural moment.  The juxtaposition is nice.   

The poem creates a fertile place to explore self-love and empathy more deeply than just a catch-phrase or a meme.  

I'm confused by the decision to use the line "than him"  I think the flow works better without it.  I would also suggest thinking about getting rid of "Maybe it's"  

I think the title of the poem works supremely well

Dirt Gets Under Your Nails