Not a Stupid But an Idiot

i may be an idiot
but i'm not stupid

for a living

i like to juxtapose
egos and insecurities

from the POV of a sociopath
brutal and pathological 

isolated and sterile

perhaps socially impotent
and maybe incapable of sympathy

but that's the best way to see things

in fine pictures
and clever words

cutting into things

detached 

with surgical hands

guided by serendipitous interests

i look for good seeds to plant
inside of the best parts of my brain piece
to, over time, grow into trees

and yes,

sometimes they do

and of course,

usually they do not

but in their own way

both outcomes

they both pain me

in my own way

i remain empty

so maybe yes

i am not so emotionally stable
but at the very least 

i appear to be intellectually fertile

if not useless

and sometimes we are that

what we hope to be
and usually we are not

anything close to anything else

but wasted flesh

pretending to be

 

Author's Note

Reviews

[Silt]

Now this I enjoyed. I don't believe I can pick out a favourite stanza out of so many favourites.

Critiques are opinionated and so here is mine.

I wondered about this stanza - but to be honest this is probably just my thoughts trying to influence yours, and one can not exceed the other.


but in their own way
both outcomes
they both pain me ------ they pain me
in my own way

I only suggest this as a suggestion, but since the previous line coupled those first two statements, the use of 'both' drew away from the focus of the personal pain.

Thank you for the read and post. I can't write poetry well enough, but enough others who can.

Silt

[Davidgeo]

Thanks for the review.

Your suggestion is not a good one though.

[Silt]

Suggestion can be like that.

[MaximumFlight]

I enjoyed this. I do wonder what would happen if we were all cut open and looked inside of; would some of us be hollow with an empty chest? Also, hello, I'm unstable too, nice to meet you :)

[Davidgeo]

I bet if we could cut everyone open we'd find at least a little something in everyone, it might be a boring something but still, something none the less. I think that even the super shallow people and the super bland people are hiding something in there.

Nice to meet you too... emotionally unstable people are always more fun.

[KWP]

unlike the previous review that stanza he mentioned I believe was the pinning point of the whole poem, then the lines but wasted flesh pretending to be - this made me self evaluate in an instant - strong words there.

to observe oneself, I believe is the difference between the idiots and the not - observing creates awareness and so I feel the narrator may have it wrong - so many walk through life unwilling to even consider taking the blindfolds off, out of fear or whatever, maybe they just don't know any better, yeah that's it so who can blame them. But consider if every person was aware - the balance would surely tip, the world would be a different place and hmmm I wonder if it would be better or worse X

[Davidgeo]

Even if the "blindfold" was collectively taken off most of us would just find a different way to interpret things so as to continue to align with what they believe should be true. The human mind is all too capable of interpreting something obvious as something else. Our mental gymnastics are spectacular.

In a few dozen years when automation truly replaces most low skilled employment there will be enormous amounts of unemployed/unemployable people who truly are "useless" flesh; and they will eventually become the majority. Meaning, purpose, 'objective' value, self worth and self evaluation are about to take on an entirely different dimension before this century ends. Will we keep pretending that everyone has meaning or will we redifine what 'meaning' and 'purpose' really is? Some kind of basic universal income is probably going to be required when the time comes and that just isn't something most people want to talk about. Right now it's called welfare and it's a huge stigma... eventually that will have to change as the labor market continues to automate and become more efficient with less. Welfare will have to turn into a universal basic income or not enough of us will be able to afford what is being made completely negating the gains made by a more efficient labor market... prices will rise and quality of life will decline.

[KWP]

yeah wow - interesting thought trail - quite true to I believe - the mental health market is about to boom, but with the wrong citizens ...