"underachieving" poems
I get the crust and the gristle of a thistle once a missile shooting out into the sky and I cry, wonder why. Never sure what I feel for the meal of a deal and then words more like air slip the breeze in my hair, butterflies in the skies killing what kept my alive. Oh too bad, well how sad, if the songs last lines din't matter it'd harm, it'd make the soul so very mad. Here I fall, there I stand like a robot dancing to the tunes. It's demand. Hear I laugh, hear I cry. I hear the screams and feel the burn, so why? Why unsure, of what's telling me my life is so impure. Threatened heart, from the strings that wrap it, tearing it apart. Feel the clench of a bundle of what you yourself have drench and so benched. And you threw to me the horror show, I never so have thought would reckon me to be. I, to be, it's master and it's longing family, here I cry. Hear "I" cry. For I exist in heart, but never, not in mind. There I stand once again as a memory of all that I pretend. If I tried, to be real, the pieces fall apart inside. So I hide, then I quiver and I shake as 'me' is inside. I can touch to the shelter covered in the unbelieving, underachieving to be who I know I am to be. Or at least what you see. I crush the old me and start anew, though I grew. I, immortal to myself have stomped the true. And I become something greater than simple little shrew. Do not lie! For I see with one eye, the look through me. What you see is a host, not the ghost, that lives on. "Awh, look at me. I'm so strong!" Laugh along. Child there. Where? Oops, forgot to care. Now I stare, towards the end that's never ending like this script. Never ending. Twist and bending. Don't kid me, I'm no kid. I'm the body of a youth, but I am dead. I've destroyed myself, if others didn't do a perfect job. Hold up stop! I'm letting go, a bubble that will pop. It will burst, destroying me, if it doesn't **** me first. Here I stand. Hear I cry. There I go. I have died.
May 6, 2014
May 6, 2014 at 1:09 PM UTC
I've stopped caring if people call me Mr.
I'm resigned sometimes to fade away
like a moldy apple rotting quietly in the bin
it was only a taste of me that ever counted
but I'm not done yet
(sigh)
babies...this is the rowdy bus ride
on the long windy island road
shouting holy ****
as the driver power swerves around the sunday driving couple
in a flash, white knuckled eye to eye with the semi driver
not even surprised
that we are colliding
no-one else seems to notice
this ride ends too,
a red house on a hillside over looking the pacific
monkey toucan sloth
a private pool
infinity style, ends at the edge and tumbles into what
nothing to signify
no goals met
I'm just alive,
perhaps underachieving,
this number on my check is a third of last years take
maybe I'm not charging enough
maybe I'm working too hard or not eating
I've gained no weight since college
and I barely seem to care
I learn night moves, sometimes I can sing
fearless full throated belts
a sign in some ohio river town
in front of some church
that some people still go to
and maybe get charged at the door
says
pray ceaselessly
they say
yoga is a way of being
a person goes to the gym for an hour
but what about the other 23
I keep my back straight and my breath full
and count a days labor
for ******* in my *****
and keeping my triangles engaged
just like Bomchew and Paul taught me
an old lady smiles at me in a white stair case, calls me cowboy
she said she saw me standing in court
a judge threatening to throw me in jail
and said to herself
now theres a man
Jan 28, 2019
Jan 28, 2019 at 4:03 PM UTC
All Understanding uncovers
ugliness, usury.
Unifying utopians
uncorruptable,
unmoveable.
Dashing Prophets promoted
promiscuous personalities.
Promethus’s powers
persisted
purposelessness.
Do Postmodern proletariats
protest phantoms?
Puckering proudly,
pondering
paraphrases?
If Egyptians engineered
excessive egoists,
Englishmen evolved
ethical
endgames.
Tradition Rules reformed
rednecks, remobilizing,
romanticizing, recursions
rose
remarkably.
If Caesar costumed
cabals crafted carefully,
Christianity calibrated
circumferential
conflicts.
Vigilantism Unveils unlucky
usurper, undoes underachieving,
unemotional, unconsciousness
unlearning
unhumanness.
Every Tadpole’s talents
triumphs titan’s tricks
tip toeing
towards
truth.
Sep 15, 2017
Sep 15, 2017 at 2:58 AM UTC
and
The pickles
on the shelves
in the condiment aisle
are readying
themselves
for the winter
The half-sours
stand at attention
The garlics stand
at parade rest
Dill chips are
stacked so
their eyes cannot see
out the jar
Mrs. Smith's bread & butter
pickles will not be on sale
again until late Spring
(so tasty are these)
What a long cold winter
awaits those
underachieving cucumbers
Feb 29, 2016
Feb 29, 2016 at 2:44 PM UTC
Addicted to the green leaves, you're a caterpillar crawling in the dirt
Conflicted and sick as he heaves, after looking up a butterflies"s skirt
If he could only see, potentially, what he could be, if he"d simply just look up
I continue my plea, eternally, to help set him free, have a drink from my cup
I know you waited a whole extra week to finally come out of our mother
But the Responsibility rests on me, I refuse to give up on my only brother
There"s no place like home
Unless its abusive and broken
There"s no chance to roam
Unless actions are outspoken
I'm afraid of success, because I'll finally run out of all the excuses
Many sins to confess, none worse than underachieving all our uses
If you could only fear less
If you could only focus more
Take a hit just to relieve stress
Wake up in a city called *****
You"re still looking down crawling on the ground
With so so many women lost waiting to be found
You should be out up here with me flying around
Butterflies attract without even speaking a sound
We"re born with no parachutes and I'm a frequent flyer
So please stop wallowing down in the muck and the mire
Come flourish with me and lets set the ******* world on fire
You're my only thicker than water, join me before we expire
Apr 7, 2013
Apr 7, 2013 at 1:53 AM UTC
glass half empty or half full?
why do we even ask at all?
all this thinking takes its toll
on our society of analysis
anti-action and paralysis
it really is a dangerous thing
overphilosophizing i mean
we've fallen victim to the allure
of thinking that we can cure
anyone anything and or any problem
with enough thinking tinkering and or solving
but truly there's really got to be
more to cure the modern malady
of paradoxes and dichotomies
and meta-epistemologies
we've come too far for us to merely be
just because i think we think
if i can really only see
what's standing right in front of me
once it's gone to the periphery
then i'm positive that we'll all have been
over inacting and underachieving
for far far too long
we think too much and do too little
it's not like it's a test or a riddle
we write creeds and manifestos
but there's no credence manifested
if we don't give precedence
not to kings queens or presidents
but to becoming a society-
a people who won't go quietly
whose thoughts and bright ideas
suddenly begin to coalesce
into lives being lived
to the absolute fullest
we need something more
we need a paradigm shift
made from something much more sure
than a philosopher's two cents
but if we don't act now
if we procrastinate and wait
our dreams will just be dreams
and tomorrow will be too late
so then-
if you don't mind
instead of stopping just to analyze and think
i think i'll take that half of a glass
and maybe take a drink
Oct 6, 2017
Oct 6, 2017 at 7:07 PM UTC
I'm high on likes and retweets
The hearts, and flames and repeats
I'm an underachieving overachiever
A social media facade I've designed
A highlight reel, my life defined
But behind the screens, a different tale
A search for meaning, a life to hail
The validation I seek, a fleeting thrill
A moment's high, a lifetime's fulfill
I yearn to break free from this digital stage
And find my true self, in a real-life page
Jan 15, 2025
Jan 15, 2025 at 1:52 PM UTC
They say underachieving is an overrated skill
But Who's better qualified for your time to ****
So let me proceed to bleed just to prove I'm alive
You'll never have to leave if you constantly arrive
They say Confucious once said that he's the true root of all confusion
And stars are really just God's making love, we call it nuclear fusion
Metaphorically I smite thee with blasphemy as I come to a conclusion
Then I left somehow forgetting to remember time is merely an illusion
They also say most communication is nonverbal and it crept in my head
I had so many questions to ask, but figured they were better left un-said
And as I opened my mouth I saw a sign with the words "better off read"
It was the manual to the future, "Stare at your phones until your dead"
Apr 23, 2016
Apr 23, 2016 at 7:02 AM UTC
Being a teenager is dodging bullets of petty rumors and gossip speeding towards you like heat-seeking missiles in the middle of the hallway and
Hiding from the shadows and trying to find the light simultaneously and
Aiming to please everyone, especially your parents who don't pay attention to the important things like whether or not you're still sane unless you ask them please and
Floating somewhere in the middle of over and underachieving so as to remain afloat and
Constantly battling the stress that wages a war on your body and mind and
Falling in and out of what can only be described as the adolescent definition of love and
Wishing you could sign a peace treaty with wherever all these emotional bombs are flying from and
Getting crushed under the pressure that
Builds and
Builds until you
Bend and
Bend until you finally
Snap.
And break down in tears, exhaustion and strife.
And when you regain enough strength, you wave your tiny white flag in surrender,
Hoping to put life on pause, even just for a moment
In a feeble attempt to prepare yourself for the next attack
Because these ruthless soldiers don't care if you can't handle the pain that they inflict and
Without skipping a beat, a machine gun opens fire on your soul, leaving holes that make you question who you are and
Your wounded, empty shell of a body is all that's left laying motionless on the ground and
You hope like hell you can survive this teenage battlefield.
Sep 25, 2011
Sep 25, 2011 at 12:39 AM UTC
She was a flower wild
Wearing thrift store pair of shoes
Holes in sleeves of her hoodie
Jeans in all types of blues
Knit sheets unmade on queen size bed
Dreams Jersey or maybe New York
Knows she's destined for simple things
An average underachieving dork
Pizza breath
Bloodshot eyes
Red as petals blooming
A rose
Whiskey shots over wine any day
Toothpaste on tip of her nose
Alabaster skin and crooked smile
Knotted shoelaces on feet
Hair tied
A messy braid
Freckled embrace emitting heat
Shoulders carrying world
The burden of it's weight
Too prideful to ask for a helping hand
When the heaviness is too great
She believes love to be tangible word
Favorite songs are always sad
Can catch her staring out the window
Reminiscing joy she long ago had
She agreed to attend therapy
But an appointment was never made
Voice was simple to convince
Body harder to persuade
Apr 2, 2021
Apr 2, 2021 at 3:15 AM UTC
I have a whole list of things to do;
Not just for myself, but for others too.
Life is short and yet I do not care;
This is my honest truth laid bare.
Underachieving is a trait of mine;
A recurring statement, an obvious sign?
So far I'm surviving,
Not thriving.
Why won't I just do it?
Aug 8, 2015
Aug 8, 2015 at 6:31 PM UTC
mannerisms containing grace and beauty vanquish
when conquering the internet's cruel anguish.
feeding sins with apples that bloomed in the evening
of february to survive in a fast world unreal to the underachieving.
in solitude, her essence blooms despite her
bruised virtuous soul that screams her damnation.
in isolation, the substance of his being thrives in the
waiting room of circumstances that bring prosperity.
reprise a revolution for the modern age of devils,
let them build e-tombs for the sensational forgotten.
encourage the death of language for the birth of a new culture
where the muted can still share words for the world to publicise.
beware of trolls lingering between the lines of text fonts
for a new plague has occurred with no treatment found to cure.
the heat of a blush from "i love you" absent from the screen,
the streets are a little too quiet for the comfort of elders.
do not be frightful for a generation
made from a future a past had conceived.
do not be hopeful for the undoing of the internet.
believe in amor fati, my dear, for this was inevitable.
May 20, 2019
May 20, 2019 at 4:36 AM UTC
you need an excuse,
a quick simple lie
rolling off the tip of your tongue
to disguise the true reality
of underachieving;
there's actually no reason.
Nov 27, 2014
Nov 27, 2014 at 7:41 AM UTC
We all have built up our ideas of what our futures have in store for us. We all assume our dreams are attainable, that we will be the lucky ones who become successful and rich and famous.
When we fall short of our dreams, we have excuses. When something goes awry and we mister across misfortune, we come quick to our own defense; we quickly explain why we aren’t like the stereotype we appear to be emulating.
If we’re all creating our own justification, how are there any stereotypes to begin with? “Yes, I cheated but I’m not your ‘typical’ homewrecking slut!”—What girl is saying that? She’s pleading, explaining why she didn’t mean it like that, why it was a mistake and it just kind of happened.
Is everyone the stereotype?
Is no one the stereotype?
These expectations of ourselves move beyond our high school pursuits and passions. When we reach our adult careers, are we going to blame small things—like underperforming and underachieving on being tired? Or having an ‘off day’? What happens when that becomes a habit—everyday becomes that off day.
When will we accept that it could simply be our personality flaws?
You aren’t having a lazy day; you are a lazy person. I’m not acting ****** I’m just a *****
But what are you supposed to do when your personality rubs even someone the wrong way? At some point, isn’t someone supposed to be your friend? Isn’t that just how it works?
Statistically, shouldn’t I have friends by now? But there’s no equation for personal relationships.
n.d.
Jan 21, 2016
Jan 21, 2016 at 2:17 PM UTC
Aiming for the stars
But cannot reach the trees
Trying to move mountains
But running from the bees
Tryna swim away
but i can't wade in water..
Tryna warn the sheep..
Before they all get slaughtered..
Jul 31, 2015
Jul 31, 2015 at 9:49 AM UTC