1% Unique

1% Unique

you
like me
like them
are only 
1% unique
the rest
is almost entirely
the same

whatever your talents
they are not 
that special
they are only
your 1% 
compared to the other 99
of yourself
with a 1% talent
in something 
just like
another 1%
in anybody 
else

loneliness comes calling
when we can't accept
we're far more like
than unlike
the lowly 
uneducated
or miseducated
herd

loneliness seduces us
with our 1% uniqueness
that we believe
places us outside
the lowly 
misguided mob

loneliness and despair
seduce us
when our uniqueness
isn't appreciated
by someone
recognizing
then loving us
enough
for what makes us
special

loneliness comes
from not accepting
the stuff of me
is almost entirely
the same stuff
that composes you
and everybody 
else

loneliness comes
when we don't understand
we're only 1% special
and all the rest
is the same 
inert shit
that's inside
everybody else

loneliness
despair
come calling
when we need to be
when we need to prove
to ourselves
and everyone else
our specialness
is greater 
than its paltry
1% 

alienation
nihilism
loneliness come calling
when we don't understand
that extraordinary
that super-special
that genius and virtuosity
is still
just 
2%

you and i
are not alone
far from it
we are one
we are united
as the 99%
and the only thing
which disjoins us
is the willingness
to accept
our stubborn
primitive need
to be more
than our 1% 
which already divides

you may argue
99% shit
is cause enough
for depression
nihilism
suicide
but maybe
it's that 1%
that so far
has kept the guns
from our heads
the hemlock from our lips
and figuring out
how to maximize
that 1%
is the key 
to our living
perhaps even
our humanity

1%
may be all
but enough
maybe it has to be
enough
to keep us
going
if we can recognize
and accept
without delusion
without conflating
without romanticizing
what only
1%
is

if you
are 99% of me
and me of you
then we
are mostly
of them too
most of what we are
reflected in the crowd
not just ourselves
then our loneliness
our self-centeredness
our alienation
the disease
that forever 
keeps us
from understanding
the largest part
of ourselves
that are
of the crowd

this narcissism
as ally
of despair and alienation
reflected
in everything
private and public
keeping us
from seeing 
feeling anything
more 
than our loneliness 
our nihilism
our desperation
alone in our rooms
alone out in public
alone in our fantasies
waiting
to die
in some
absurd
abstract
glory
of more than 1%
that will never
come 

accepting 
even embracing
your 1%
may still leave you
alone
but less lonely
less desperate
knowing
accepting
embracing
that you
like everyone else
is just
another character
in the world's
gloriously 
confounding and absurd
play
a glorious thing
to take part in
sometimes
when you
can get beyond
needing to be more
in order
to feel
the glory of yourself
rather than
embracing
feeling
savoring
the glorious absurdity
mystery and complexity
of our world
sometimes subtle
sometimes overt
in its beauties
of music and love
and its horrors
of mass murder and betrayals