Requiem of Relevance​

Issue 12

Not many people know my name
And even those who do
Don’t think about it often.
 
Of course the older you get, the more you realize
That the fight for relevance
Is irrelevant.
 
Doesn’t mean you stop fighting for it
While trying to hide the fact that you are,
Eavesdropping on conversations in which you hope you’re brought up.
 
Wish I could settle for an illusion,
Feel relevant while not being relevant,
Have my cake and eat it too.
 
Though I’m wary of unseen consequences
Like a child who’s not yet learned
All the reasons they have to be afraid.
 
Those who flee to the mountains
On a late-life hermitic whim
Are perhaps the wisest of all.
 
Still I’m not built for prolonged solitude
So I guess I’ll embrace a lifetime of obscurity
Filled with moments of mattering.

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Sam Hendrian is a Los Angeles-based poet and filmmaker striving to foster empathy through art. You can find links to his work on Instagram at @samhendrian143.

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