If You’re Going to Fail, Fail Big

If you’re going to fail, fail big.
Take bankruptcy, start over and succeed.
Crush the competition, buy yourself some friends.
Dazzle investors, convince banks to lend.

Grow, grow, grow! Leave no money on the table.
Fire the weaklings, groom the able.
Cultivate consumers, placate resentment.
Nature abhors a vacuum; ambition abhors contentment.

There’s no such thing as excess when leaving your mark,
doing what you’re born for, aiming for the stars.
And greed? Only the jealous accuse with that term.
You deserve what you have, every penny was earned.

Simplicity, contentment, generosity, thrift—
a simpleton’s hymn claims these are gifts.
You don’t need gifts, you’re no object of charity;
they may pray for your soul but don’t dare call you needy.

Let them keep their quaint ways, their naive integrity.
You can exploit such impoverishing piety.
You’re paving your destiny on a highway you own;
if it leads to hell, you still hold title to every stone.

Son, follow my mantra and you’ll end up like me.
If you’re going to fail, fail big.

 

I am a hermit
though not in the traditional sense
I have the Internet
and social media
and a hundred or so so-called friends
yet the deepest aches of my soul
I dare not put out there
not even in a private message
if I did what would be the response?
A thumbs-up? A crying face emoji?

I am a hermit
though not in the traditional sense
I live to make folks laugh
or think, or cry
I tally their reactions
as if counting growing wealth
I banter with the banterers
curmudge with the curmudgeons
I correct the misguided
and promote my beloved causes

yet in the end
when I close my laptop
I am as empty and hollow
as when I first booted up
I put my computer to sleep
and try to do the same myself
when the new day arrives
I’ll again open my browser
and search for
significance

I am a hermit
though not in the traditional sense