This poem was inspired by a friend of mine who told me that as a child she was made to feel inferior to her older brother who was considered much brighter than she was.
.GENIUS
My brother is a genius
And I’m a first-class flop,
I’m always at the lowest end,
He’s always at the top.
My best is never good enough,
Do I get praise? No fear!
And if I say “I really tried,”
No one seems to hear.
Oh, why don’t people realize,
Each time I’m criticised,
I shrink and wither deep inside,
I feel so ostracized.
As soon as I put one foot wrong
The other seems to follow,
And everybody seems to thinks it’s in
Self-pity that I wallow.
Won’t someone hear my cry for help
And understand my need
To be the me that’s really me!
Now, what is this I read?
A number of quite famous folk
Did not do well at school,
At last I see a ray of hope,
Perhaps I’m not a fool!
What if I’m an Einstein,
A Thomas Edison,
A Henry Ford or Churchill,
A G. K. Chesterton!!!
I might be a Picasso,
I’d better look and see,
It mightn’t be too hard to find
The Genius in me!
You seem to be a very good poet! There is a problem with comparing ourselves to others, particularly if there is someone in the vicinity who has a high IQ.
I recently had some discussions with our high school genius who did wonderful things with his life as a result. I always admired him although many didn't because they thought he was not normal for his eccentric ways. Although he was a success in his career in the Air Force, saving the country from unnecessary nuclear war at least twice, he confessed to me that he always felt inferior because he was 5'11" and very worried that he wouldn't find a mate. He married a hometown girl his height, but wanted to marry my sister who is also 5'11". She rejected him when she was 17 to marry a neighbor. He is currently happily married with children and living a very fine retirement pursuing his primary hobby, astronomy.
What I learned from him is that genius can be an isolating factor just like anything else.
This poem speaks for me as if it was from my own mouth. I'd also like to add that there is/was (not sure if he's still alive) this rich guy in Hong Kong who did not even had the chance to attend high school. When he was a little boy, he sold peanuts on the streets of Hong Kong, but yet through skill and experience that he had learned by himself he had grown up to be one of the richest guys in Hong Kong. This just goes to show that whatever the circumstances that we grew up in we can always make it better through our own determination to succeed.
The songs and art in this book are about our collective emergence after the pandemic and trauma of the last few years - comprised of 5 collections: World as Refuge, Where We Live, In Our Hands, Rhythms of Change and What We See & Sow.
(Self-published. Please contact author directly to order.)
Enter the pages of diaspora in quiet introspection. Bathe your thoughts with subtle humor; synchronize your spirit-sense with history-in-heat; fall headlong with eyes wide open into
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I recently had some discussions with our high school genius who did wonderful things with his life as a result. I always admired him although many didn't because they thought he was not normal for his eccentric ways. Although he was a success in his career in the Air Force, saving the country from unnecessary nuclear war at least twice, he confessed to me that he always felt inferior because he was 5'11" and very worried that he wouldn't find a mate. He married a hometown girl his height, but wanted to marry my sister who is also 5'11". She rejected him when she was 17 to marry a neighbor. He is currently happily married with children and living a very fine retirement pursuing his primary hobby, astronomy.
What I learned from him is that genius can be an isolating factor just like anything else.
Ron
Thank you for such a meaningful poem!
Sandie