I masturbate every day to check

that my erectile dysfunction is real

I walk carefully believing that I am invisible

and that the ground shakes beneath my feet

I look in every mirror and think

that I am not really there

I take pictures of myself every day and…

I eat my breakfast and go to school

before the school bells that aren’t there ring

I stand in a line that doesn’t exist

and clench my hands over my stomach like an obedient pupil,

fawn for the schoolmarm to get better grades,

or so she will see past my lack of ability

Every day I think I am the most

intelligent student despite that my grades are among the lowest

I convince myself that I am the most adept

despite that I am the most average

My name is carved into all the trees

and scribbled on all the buses

despite how I cannot write a single word…

or perhaps just because I don’t dare to do it

Every wall in Stockholm is smeared with my profanities

I wear reflectors like a dog so that cars see me at night

and carry a heavy rucksack for some reason

that I am constantly trying to discern

All I remember is that I have been erased

I don’t know by whom

or when

I’m not even sure…

Finally I have managed to fool the Europeans

I am not especially tall

And am not especially gifted

My hair isn’t light

I use contact lenses

and don’t dither in fear when facing a social servant

or when facing the thought that I don’t know a thing about this digital world

I have managed to fool the traffic light

and jaywalk without being noticed,

managed to overcome the weather

by convincing myself that the cold

really is warm

Nobody sees when I cry

when they look into my teary eyes

I paste on a smile so nobody suspects me of anything

I’m not so dejected

and don’t think about jumping from the first, best window

I am not nervous when facing the thought I will be unemployed

homeless and penniless

I’m not afraid of anyone

I eat healthy food and play sports

I have a family

and don’t drag out a thousand corpses,

the names of the disappeared and sanguine poems

I have managed to fool the Europeans,

traveled with dignity and passed

all their roadblocks and police hounds

in a surprisingly professional way

I gave a brilliant defense in court

and now walk towards a respectable end

Everyone says it’s not worth the bother

and it won’t mean anything for me

I have managed to fool the Europeans

But I don’t know why everything still feels

like a bitter failure