From the collection '8 poems about me and you.'
Are you good enough, strong enough, smart enough
and would you believe them if they told you you’re not?
The best of you is at large, they say.
You’re missing vast parts of yourself.
Once it was impossible
to fill in your pieces,
not crossing all of their lines.
Soon time fashions fools of us all.
Doubt is reliably ill-informed
via any number of charlatans
whose fault is failing to see
the world has passed them by
before the wisdom they have on offer –
false facts, faux figures, lost hopes and dreams –
is filtered through to you.
So you’ve felt for a while now
(knowing this is nothing new)
you’ve been equipped to fail.
Fed all these off promises.
You’re under-prepared,
you’re underdone,
your sources of knowledge
as uncertain, unready
as you hoped not to be.
