First thing you notice is the black hole
where front tooth and neighbouring
incisor once lived. Mister sallow
skin, greasy hair no longer cares.
He’s thrown in the soiled towel
before any fight – prize or otherwise.
Go directly to scrap heap;
it’s never hard to locate.
The fix, as opposed to a fix?
Shame has little effect because
unholy family is causal. Perhaps
rocking, clapping religion, a stint
in the military, a do-good org
full of anglers who offer bait
to passing, potential recruits.
A crumb might be all it takes.
Cheaper to mend damaged young
man than support not-so-young,
not-so-well man. Once on still
functional idiomatic feet, he can
pick fruit, bear fruit, take root,
become what he can become.
Einstein looked like a loser until,
at 25, he figured everything out.
