written february 23, 2008 7:58pm for an anonymous poetry contest

I love this imperfect world With all the holes, dents, and broken pieces. Have you ever noticed How not every line you make is straight? How some days, you may be having a bad hair day. How you're taking a walk around the neighborhood, and you look down for a moment And you see all the little cracks Right there on the pavement. Have you ever thought of what life would be like if everything was perfect? No mistakes, no lessons learned. If every time you tried, you succeeded. No failures. Have you ever noticed how this place would be nothing without our little imperfections? This poem didn't just get written in a minute, There were cross-offs, white-out, crumpled up papers, mistakes. Just like everything else in the world. If life was perfect, Where would the superheroes be, if there was no saving needed? How could teenagers enjoy time with their friends breaking all the rules? If the world was perfect, would people still die? And if they did, wouldyou let it bother you? Or do perfect people just accept it and move on, like it's nothing? Everything would be nothing without all our mess-ups. Life would have less meaning, There'd be no such thing as emotion. I'm glad we live in such a wonderful place with people making mistakes, rules being broken, hearts aching. A place where nothing is perfect, because imperfection is all we need.