You can’t be too dumb to recover
but it’s easy to be too smart.
Dumb, insecure, convinced
you’re without hope, that you’re a loser,
is the perfect frame of reference
to listen, to follow the suggestions
as though they were written-in-stone laws,
and to act without question, without response,
without suggesting an alternative.

But the one whose grades and test scores
declare to be above average, intelligent,
among the top? We, for I believed
I was without assets except intelligence
for that only could not be doubted…
because of grades and test scores
and the ease with which they were obtained…
We…doubt it could be that easy.
We…argue that there’s a way to do it easier,
quicker, more completely, a better way.
We…can know it all, be experts,
write a book about it, speak with confidence,
be perceived as having it…
But we know we don’t until we understand
we’re not that bright, not so smart we can do no better,
and we give up and act like we know nothing
but are willing to do whatever it takes,
to go to any lengths.