Some poets never need to get heard.
Some playwrights never need to be read.
Some hashtags never need to win at tic tac toe.
Some boyfriends never need to find love.

The world is full of also-rans
and never-was’es
and things lower on the imagined food chain than that.
The Empire of What If
is larger than any other unspoken khanate
and filled with more potential
and potential wasted.

Read this with a saddened sigh
if you must
or find some relief
that you are not alone
in your failures,
whether realized
or not.

Not everyone can succeed.
Many situations are zero sum.
Some contests have to be won
and losers? There have to be some.
At least one.
Not none.
…
I’m done.