I watch people and what they do

pretending, acting, doing what others do

Their teachers

were those

they listened to.

It’s much more routine

than you might think.

People build themselves up

by all the false stuff they say,

until

one day

it all falls down.

They don’t know who they are

and they start again

building

saying

doing

without much thinking

because they don’t know how

to be original—and when I say “original”

I don’t speak of anything special—

it was who

you

were meant to be

before you got to Z

and the alphabet spelled all the words

it wasn’t supposed to

in the nursery.

Build with Blocks

like a Baby

and spell with words

that sound funny.

Any creativity

that isn’t conventional

gets knocked down

by somebody

who knows better than you.

The failures can’t succeed

and the winners

don’t enjoy

victory

because

victory never belonged to you.

It was given.

Own your own words

and never copy

what they force you

to learn

in the nursery.

Keep them hidden

deep inside, like a secret

until

you don’t have to

and Z

will belong to you.