The Almost-Good-Enoughs | Teen Ink

The Almost-Good-Enoughs

April 4, 2015
By ChloeCook SILVER, Independence, Kentucky
ChloeCook SILVER, Independence, Kentucky
8 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
If I exhaled parachutes, I may breathe from great heights.


I love the smell of rain.
Sometimes, I imagine of the places
Far out beyond the trees that I see.
There are places where it always rains;
I think it would be nice there.

I hate the sound of malice.
Sometimes, I can feel the fear slowly creeping up my chest, tickling my throat with tiny specks of heat.
I don't really like it here.

For here is the place of the almost-good-enoughs.
The runner-ups,
The supporting roles,
the ones who weren't picked first for the team but were just good enough not to be last.
We are the nickels in this world filled with dollars- and at least pennies are talked about.

No one really notices us here.
We're not big enough to be remembered,
but not small enough to be important.
We fly under the radar.

But we know everything.

We know you're insecure about yourself,
And we feed off these secrets like starving mongrels.
We'll sell them to the hierarchy and swim in our payment of praise for a few more hours.

We do all the "behind the scenes jobs,"
3 way calls and slight-of-hand-texting
are our specialties.
You won't know we were there,
We linger in the background.

We have power (in our numbers).
Those above us are only there because we allow them to be,
and those below us are only there because they want to be.
We could riot, we could.
But we don't.

We don't fear,
It's more or less of a worry.
What would happen if we left?
There wouldn't even be enough people to place titles on.
Sometimes we think that's okay,
but others feast off purpose
as we our secrets.

I'd like to imagine the world would be a little sadder without me,
But that's just a lie.
It's because of us that I can't even be longed for,

Neither can you,

You see.
We're all tenacious to this thing called belonging.
We crave to live in people's memories
and strike in their hearts as hot as lightning.

We want to be felt,
We want you to want to feel us,
Because we're really just lonely third-wheels of life.
We want to have moments of acceptable silence and okay staring.
Listening to your heartbeat could be my new favorite song.
And that's just the place we live in;
Too many could-be's and want-to's.

But It's true, and I'll say it,
I want to live.
They want to be something,
Those people just want to be acknowledged in general.

And then there's us- the creators.
The could-be-destroyers.
The want-to-be-dreamers.

The almost-good-enoughs.
 


The author's comments:

This piece is inspired by the way I think society comes across. There are popular and unpopular kids in school (we all know it's true) and I feel this is the perspective of the kids in the middle of it all. 


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This article has 11 comments.


on Apr. 13 2015 at 1:56 pm
ChloeCook SILVER, Independence, Kentucky
8 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
If I exhaled parachutes, I may breathe from great heights.

I'm glad you were able to relate. Thanks for the feedback!

on Apr. 13 2015 at 1:54 pm
ChloeCook SILVER, Independence, Kentucky
8 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
If I exhaled parachutes, I may breathe from great heights.

Thank you!

on Apr. 13 2015 at 1:52 pm
ChloeCook SILVER, Independence, Kentucky
8 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
If I exhaled parachutes, I may breathe from great heights.

Thank you so much! I appreciate all the feedback.

on Apr. 13 2015 at 1:51 pm
ChloeCook SILVER, Independence, Kentucky
8 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
If I exhaled parachutes, I may breathe from great heights.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed.

on Apr. 13 2015 at 1:50 pm
ChloeCook SILVER, Independence, Kentucky
8 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
If I exhaled parachutes, I may breathe from great heights.

Thank you very much!I appreciate the feedback.

liv.photo GOLD said...
on Apr. 10 2015 at 7:45 pm
liv.photo GOLD, West Bend, Wisconsin
10 articles 13 photos 4 comments
I am in love with the line "Listening to your heartbeat could be my new favorite song"!!! You've got talent.

JRaye PLATINUM said...
on Apr. 8 2015 at 11:43 pm
JRaye PLATINUM, Dorr, Michigan
43 articles 10 photos 523 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;If you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you.&quot;<br /> <br /> &quot;Have you ever looked fear in the face and said, &#039;I just don&#039;t care.&#039;?&quot;

I love the message here, it's powerful and beautiful and unique. I will say I would've liked it better if it had been shorter - you had me hooked on the rain and dollar-nickel analogies, but lost me in the middle. Very good though, I appreciate all the thought that went into this - great piece :)

on Apr. 8 2015 at 9:19 am
GG_LeBode PLATINUM, Brooklyn, New York
26 articles 0 photos 18 comments
I loved this piece. I thought it was really a similar concept to a personal experience piece that I wrote recently. At first, I thought that the rain stanza was random, although beautifully said and very relatable, but towards the middle of the poem I caught the connection.

on Apr. 7 2015 at 1:28 pm
ShayShay01 GOLD, Fredonia, Kansas
14 articles 0 photos 1 comment
I love this poem. It really does describe the people in between. As one of the 'in-betweeners,' i can say this is pretty true.

on Apr. 7 2015 at 8:24 am
Ray--yo PLATINUM, Kathmandu, Other
43 articles 2 photos 581 comments

Favorite Quote:
God Makes No Mistakes. (Gaga?)<br /> &quot;I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.&quot; -Liesel Meminger via Markus Zusac, &quot;The Book Thief&quot;

*we-allow-all

on Apr. 7 2015 at 8:23 am
Ray--yo PLATINUM, Kathmandu, Other
43 articles 2 photos 581 comments

Favorite Quote:
God Makes No Mistakes. (Gaga?)<br /> &quot;I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.&quot; -Liesel Meminger via Markus Zusac, &quot;The Book Thief&quot;

Ah, this is really good. Loved the penny-nickel-dollar analogy, and the title too is really good. Once thing that I didn't really enjoy much is the we-all-those-above-us-to-be-above-us concept, but all in all your effort is amazing. I hope you keep writing more. Best wishes.