Enough: a poem

Most of us grow up
with the idea
that it is never enough.
Whatever you do
Whatever you achieve
it is almost, but not quite.
The feeling
of not enough
Seeps into everything,
Fills in the cracks,
Making everything appear whole
Though it is fractured into parts,
The not enough is the mortar
Holding the parts together.
The not enough is sent subliminally
And through ventilation systems.
The not enough begins with a report card
And ends with a train trip across the country.
The not enough is a lifelong invisible illness
It doesn’t cause a limp but it deforms the psyche.
We live in a world that feeds on this not enough
Insists we fill in the cracks with more and more
Despite the fact that less is more
And not enough is less than we need.