Every Guy

By Linda Kowalchek, Founding Connoisseur

Image by Atelier Moss.

Look in the mirror.
Who do you see?
A vision of ordinariness
Glaring back at nothingness.

A vacant stare
From dull eyes
Lacking the sparkle
Of an ambitious life filled with determination.

Thinning hair shellacked with the slickness of the
Slippery drivel sliding off your tongue.
Meaningless words of attempted wisdom
Drooling from the corners of your mouth.

Custom leather loafers
Cover your tender feet.
Shoes paid for with the plentiful coin
Your accomplished daddy left behind when he died.

Forever following two paces behind
The memory of his golden footsteps.
Gifted with every opportunity
And a silver spoon gently placed in your mouth.

You are every-guy.
A carbon copy of
A generic “has been”
Who never was, nor ever will be.

A professional purveyor
Of perpetual mediocrity.
A flailing mass
Of overdeveloped needs and wants.

Your father’s only failure
In a life of grand achievement.
Open your closed eyes and hear
His desperate cries of disappointment echo from the grave.

© Linda Kowalchek 2025