intelligence
its a curse
not the blessing that
they told me it was
good to be smart
to reel off words
to reel off numbers -
the parrot was well versed
then came intelligence, something
different
the questioning of elders
the embrace of learning
for oneself, for others
you've done their work
for little rewards of acceptance
now the rebellion begins inside
At your Year 12 graduation
what did they think?
when some long-haired lout
stepped forward for the prize
in black jeans and sneakers?
intelligence means you tread
on toes
stand on unpopular shoulders
while they struggle to shepherd you
into a nice shiny profession
they hope you can be the gleaming
example
to impressionable minds
money is knowledge is intelligence
the door was open
but the squeeze was too narrow
I couldn’t breathe underneath
a sea of sadness and suffocation
the only option, drowned in unconscience
thinking is a burden
ambivalent in its rewards
for some money is the harvest
others get the pain it awards
failing to tread the narrow
channel of white picket fences
and the stakeholders in normalcy
seek to herd us away from insight
and toward mental innocence
real intelligence - its not common
sense
