the perfect is the enemy of the good in poetry

the perfect is the enemy of the good
the perfect is the enemy of the good
they say that
the perfect is the enemy of the good
and they’re right in that
every swing for the purest of the pure
risks unseating something flawed but livable
something decent but dinged-up around the edges
creating opportunity for something absolutely
vile and heartless and cruel and disgusting to
seep in through that crack and win the day

the perfect is the enemy of the good
demanding the utterly infallible
at the cost of something functional and humane
in the fullness of your impatient naivity
allowing the wolves at the wall to strike

well, of course they’re right
the perfect is the enemy of the good
we just had an election like that
the good guys got short-sighted and greedy
the good guys lost track of the long game
voted Green Party or wrote in Mickey Mouse
creating a margin, a wedge in the door for
the bastards to have room to lie and cheat
for a rotten Nazi pumpkin full of bees

because it’s not just that
the perfect is the enemy of the good
it’s also that
the perfect is the enema of the good
in trying to quickly and easily
clean everything out at once without
thinking the whole thing through
now everyone got shit on
now there’s just shit everywhere
because that’s what happens when
you’re not careful with an enema bag

the perfect is the enema of the good
this is where we are now
the perfect is the enemy of the good
which works out pretty well for me
if we can ever get out of this mess
because I’m absurdly far off from perfect
but I try to be good, I try just my best