I’m not a late starter / just a starter / who finally got brave and learned to work smarter / harder / reject the accepted timelines, the flat pack charters / the recipes for therapies, accessories, mandated memories / I mean – really – what are these? / please / the choice to lose yourself by degrees

Not a late starter / not some confused, used-up, stagey ol’ martyr / no – just someone whose eyes grew shiny and sharper / wider / who saw his story like a rank outsider / suddenly beside himself / jumping down, ready to burn the shelf

Not a late starter / no / that’s not how it goes / it’s a question of spirit not simply rows / in an Excel sheet / that shows the numbers you managed to complete / that’s not success / if I manage to say one true thing – that’s a yes

Please, then – no more late starters / I close with a quote from Jean-Paul Sartre:

He is always becoming,
and if it were not for the contingency of death,
he would never end