Imperfect

Failure, I declare
When the personal
Cannot go beyond 
The faded thing in itself

Didactic, non-auto
Regurgitated standards of living
Make ideal into a heaven
While the pay gap
Economizes on all that is good

Be great, says the tortoise
From the end of the last race
Run out of speed but pushing
No longer a lead, just cushy

Getting softer as the mountains
Lose ridges and become trash dump humps
Lost coal, dead pools, undone 
By expectations, too far gone for comfort

No more escape to possibility
It's undeniable: here I am, with a 
Gap in my teeth
Cavities in my bones

And imperfection flowing
Through every artery
Until the final stop