Not Quite The Right Stuff

Perhaps got too much shade instead of good warm sunlight,

maybe took root in soil that was just a trifle poorer

not drained quite as well as required

or, perhaps, a bit too close to a footpath

took hold under limiting obstructions

very young, there came this hailstorm

maybe stepped upon as puppies

or smaller than all the others

grew too close to the downspout

possibly their mother was just too hungry

came up a season later, with siblings that were larger

or just shy and awkward, right off the bat, from birth

perhaps a trifle walleyed, a bit hare lipped or just a little deaf

father drank some and mother sorta accidentally fell down the apartment stairs

family was poor or they had prettier older brothers

often got no breakfast and wore that old and castoff clothing

simply could not always find the nourishment of mother’s teat

almost killed when he was still quite small, simple and defenseless

came to school in old sandals and her feet were brown and sandy

thought herself very stupid because she could not see the print

crippled by constant criticism resulting in chronic self-repulsion

thought that life was over after only sixteen totally embarrassed years

mother torn up by a nasty dog before she had weaned her kittens

the survivors having to learn of life bereft of her tender care

unable to pay attention long enough to ever start thinking straight

written off and forgotten though hardly even more than infants

left outside alone every day, slept on cardboard in the shed

ignored into chasing, growling, barking and then, at last, to biting

shaken for crying by caregivers who had been busy drinking

slowed considerably by mother’s chronic illnesses

rooted in soil made nearly toxic by construction

watered only by the runoff from dirty freeways and oily parking lots

diagnosed and written-off as failures by those who were their role models

told they were worthless and unworthy by parents that they just loved so blindly

instructed at an early age by authorities just to give it up and go away

totally invisible to those who might have been there to help them

given away when they stopped being cute

never socialized properly into any pack

stunted and bent by untimely snowstorms

grazed too low, time and again by passing deer

born high to a smoking, snorting, shot-up or drunken mother

squeezed into a modular beside a desolate road without expectations

found brothers in the prison and learned more there than at any school

knew only a family missing a parent and led by the child of a child

grew too close by the highway and was buried too often by the snowplow

road salt thrown up on their branches drained down into their roots

perfectly formed but not meeting accepted standards of normal beauty

written off quite early and very consistently through their formative years

hatched in a smaller pond where food was not too plentiful

finely-formed fish which weigh less than what we count as average

born without nurturing parents, favorable schools or sense of community

nonetheless, with good effort, able to pull just above the national average

surely you have seen them but perhaps not even noticed,

those far less than perfect, nonetheless, doing more than surviving

even though ill-favored or scarred, maybe abused, still they strive

they surely travel just as far, but on harder roads, than brothers of better circumstance