Changing the world forever for better

by Eric Chaet

I’ve been trying almost all my life so far
to stop injustice & mad adaptation to it.

Look around:
I’m not bragging about my efficiency & results!

But when people act as tho
because of what I’m trying to do
they’re wiser than I am
& say “Welcome to the real world!”
I laugh, & say,
“Do I get a casserole or maybe a cake with that?”

They don’t know more than I do about the world
or what’s possible in it.

When they were children they bought their version
of the world & what’s possible & who or what
they might become or do.

It’s not as tho I haven’t had to learn
how to care for my body
how to replenish calories & nutrients
& how to provide & maintain shelter for myself
in all kinds of weather & economic conditions
while parasites, predators, & marketeers sized me up—
I’ve had to do my share of adapting—
but I haven’t accepted my role in what shouldn’t be so.

It’s true, I suffer anxieties others trade for laughs
but I’ll be dead soon enough
& the sobriety keeps me learning
& improving my skill set
way beyond the usual specializations
& merely being able to pay for what I’ve been sold.

And it’s not as tho my efforts have had zero results:
most people don’t notice them, that’s all—
or can’t imagine my part in their realization—
or what I may yet achieve
which most likely they’ll not notice, either
or will imagine that it happened without my doing.

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Previously published in The Moon Light of Corea (Seoul)