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
Roman Ryan 