Robin Helweg-Larsen has been published in the Shot Glass Review and other international journals including the Alabama Literary Review, Allegro, Ambit and the Amsterdam Quarterly. He is Series Editor for Sampson Low's 'Potcake Chapbooks - Form in Formless Times', and blogs at formalverse.com from his hometown of Governor's Harbour in the Bahamas.

Robin Helweg-Larsen

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The Arrogance of Youth

How fortunate the arrogance of youth—
the optimism and innumeracy,
lack of experience, perspective, truth—
giving hopes, visions that they'd never see
if they but knew the small chance of success
in major league politics, business, sports.
Most fail, adopt some wage-slave form of dress
that not dreams, but a family, supports.

Without those early dreams, with a clear view
of stats on making it in the Big Time,
they'd all give up, seeing how very few
truly succeed. Then we'd miss those sublime
insane few dreamers who can win their race,
make the discoveries, blast into space.