the standard candle

s/he thought that s/he was

something,

growing up in a small town---

biggest fish, hottest thing

running & everybody wanted

a piece of him/her,

but when s/he got bored of

it all, s/he wanted to move to

the city &

s/he even hummed the tune on

the way there,

riding in the significant other’s

ride at the time, whom s/he

subsequently ditched,

the minute s/he set foot in

the concrete jungle---

but his/her eyes

did not shine as shiny as they

had been, in the dinky little town,

nor did all his/her attributes

deemed attractive by others,

shout the same shout of physical

victory,

when walking through the streets,

as they had before---

this once crème de la crème,

now is nothing but the standard,

a shine that can be outshined

easily,

something conventionally

beautiful, whose luster

simply does not wow the crowd

like it once did &

it makes him/her have to rethink

their whole reason for coming to

the bigger pond,

in order to flaunt what they thought

they had,

whilst the jungle wails in laughter,

a guffaw reminiscent of Nelson

Muntz on The Simpsons---

“heh heh!”