The Written Off Life

 I was born wrong for the world
I was raised in, that I was meant to inherit.
There men were men, and if some of them
were bullies, and others got drunk,
then 'a bit of bullying never hurt anyone',
because bullies were never hurt by anything,
and they were the measure of everything.

According to the them only the folks
who nursed grievances ever got hurt,
and they hurt themselves
more than anyone else. 

The only kind of male who mattered 
was hierarchical in character
where whatever else he was, was always boss
of his own world. Particularly when
that world disagreed with itself internally.

I was egalitarian, a male of a type
that went unrecognised, where
for my sense of fairness to be believed
it needed internally consistent behaviour.

I found my greatest consistency as an adult
when I endured being written off by employers
who required me to have an experience
that they all expected other employers to provide.

I was 'too soft' in my inexperience
to be the sort of aggressive team player,
who was fit enough to fight against
the opposing teams of other employers.

My life's mission has been to make do
and patch up the leftovers
rejected by harder men and women.

Worse lives happen at sea,
where the tides wash away
more than men ever remember.