Being Exceptional

Take 1: Too much beauty is a problem, So the pretty women say, Many women can be threatened, Mood swings like a pendulum Never trusting in ‘fair play.’ So it hurts when they dismiss you Best to not give you a chance, You might try to steal their boyfriends, Smugly now your faults imbue Though you’ve stolen not one dance. Competition can be fierce then, Few believe these days in fate, Their self-confidence can vanish, No faith too in gentle men, If the guy once shows up late. Come on lassies, what’s your hurry, Shouldn’t love be ‘laissez-faire?’ Ditching friends for men so slimy, Dressed up in your finery? Is your love so ‘ordinaire?’ Take 2: Being smart too is a problem, Life itself not hard enough, Toughs that ambush after schools out, There’s a gift in being dumb! You think calculus is rough? All young people want to fit in, Live with hearts out on their sleeve, Smart kids really do no better, Though you’d think that they might win, Teenage angst yields no reprieve. Still my brain saved me from football, Grinding work for adult thrills, Qualified for cannon fodder, Young boys think they have it all, Girls and glory, mindless drills. But the youth who show brain merit, Though rewards are slow to come, Find they bypass many hazards, Foolish plans elaborate: Author's now of their outcome. Take 3: Having bread is a conundrum, Still ‘death,’ you win on a bet, Jealousy makes you a pit bull, Lost decorum stained your bum, Reputation? Just forget! Dreams of poor men are a half-truth, Fueled by their desires unmet, Riches, splendor all they think of, ‘Clark Kents’ enters glass phone booth, Men inside still curse kismet. People! Rich! That live in prisons, That’s what our world has come to, Iron fences blocking access, Wealthy hold they’re denizens, Why do they seem like they’re blue? How did our world fall to misfits, I’m a have, but you have not, All one needs is just one bullet, Don’t you think this is the pits? Murderer lives on your lot. Brian Johnston Auguest 17, 2014