Average Looking

Simple a b a b, five stanza, lightweight Sunday afternoon reflection on a Saturdaty night out.

I was blessed with at best average looks.

So, charm and wit were needed too.

I polished my manners and slaved at my books,

So, I could pull off a pulling coup.

 

Warm mouthed, I blew above my weight .

And every single man was pleased.

But I envied still the handsome bait,

Who got much more and with such ease.

 

The intervening years have changed the game.

Heads do not turn their way anymore.

No one’s waist remains the same.

And hair is sparser and greyer than before.

 

I have honed that sharp wit and easy charm,

And use them here to still connect.

The 'suddenly not so handsome'  feel alarm,

Sensing a loss of status they reject.

 

I cannot help but feel a little smug,

That what they have relied upon has faded,

And now withdrawing from the beauty drug

They look lost, tired, confused and jaded.

 

Reviews

[emz]

Haha... great stuff.... it is so true that girls are attracted to good looks.... but women are attracted to great minds.... you are along time an adult... and great minds will always win in the end.... i loved it x

[Writer CW Kirkland]

This was a good poem, and you did a great job buidling up the narrator's emotions to the final "ah ha" moment. There was one minor detail that I disliked about this poem: "So, I could pull off a pulling coup." I would have liked it if you had not used the word pull twice in the same sentence. Perhaps it would have been more effective to say "So, I could execute a pulling coup." or something similar. Again, just a very minor detail. I liked the poem overall, and I look forward to reading more of your writing. Thanks for sharing on the Cafe.

[Steven Pottle]

I love this- I like that the rejectors finally become the rejected...a cautionary tale that if we put all of our importance in looks alone, then that will be our downfall. That last line sums up perfectly the place that I think you are writing about. Genius!