'Showed Promise', by Sam Hendrian
Stumbled across the obituary at precisely 12:00,
The usual time for mid-year New Year’s resolutions
As the drunkenness turns to queasiness
And the pleasure starts to sting.
26 and two days counting;
Didn’t even have the glory of 27,
Just a halfway thought-out header
That read, “Showed Promise.”
Showed promise for what exactly?
Capitalistic success?
Perhaps a Wikipedia page
Or picture on a restaurant wall?
Anyhow, it didn’t matter;
Whatever promise was shown had faded
Unless there was an accompanying suicide note
To inspire posthumous adulation.
Wandered to the cemetery the next morning,
Paid respects from a stranger
Which are sometimes sincerer
Than the rehearsed well-wishes of a friend.
Assured him he was more
Than what he had not yet become
And that what he already was
Was all he ever needed to be.
Sam Hendrian is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, poet, and playwright striving to foster empathy through art. From writing personalized poems for passersby outside of LA's oldest independent bookstore every Sunday, to making Chaplin-esque silent films about loneliness and human connection once a month, Sam lives to make other people feel seen and validated. More poems and films can be found on Instagram.
