A land dweller floats in an ocean of unfamiliar faces
Watching surrounding people succeed with ease.
You tell yourself, they’re inferior
Trying to be convinced that you amount to something.
Something more than just an unnoticed painting on the wall.
Others boast about their lives
Outlining their accomplishments like cards spread out on a table
Proud
to display their ace.
Walking down a familiar road to a place that feels like home,
You fish in a shallow lake brimming with identical gray fish
Sporting the fanciest of bait
Knowing that you’ll catch a compliment.
You never get full from the buffet of your catch.
The more you consume, the more hunger consumes you.
Ravished with the need for validation,
Returning to the foreign ocean becomes the only option.
Your bait will be smaller and unappetizing to the vibrantly colored strangers.
The salty water seasons everyone with attitude.
They will be feasting on cuisine
While you hold your shred of bread on a rusty hook dangling at a distance
Hoping to catch just a few new fish
To fill your belly with satisfaction
Knowing that you will probably return home
Defeated and hungry because you didn’t belong anywhere near
That ocean of accomplishments
And successful lives.
The population will be too busy
Boasting about themselves to anxious listeners
Just like you wanted to do.
Copyright 2006 Cathy Kaplan