Oscar season.

Oscar season.

Winning is everything,

Second is nowhere to be.

What does that make me?

And all the others,

Sisters, brothers,

Who fall out of favour.

The celebrities

Who lose their flavour.

Somebody has to lose,

Even winners pay their dues.

Some of the most

Revered people

In my life

Know how to sing the blues.

So why does winning matter?

When adulation

Can make you act

As mad as

The maddest hatter.

Change your values.

Twist your expectations.

Demand your hotel rooms

Are painted white

All over,

Like the cliffs at Dover,

Have a lap pool

In the bathroom.

Keep your face

Hidden out of sight,

Behind designer glasses.

Expect second looks,

From everyone who passes.

Go out for dinner,

With another winner.

And pay through the nose,

In more ways than one.

For an egg-less omelette,

And water from a

Tibetan mountain spring,

Bottled at sunrise,

To capture the first

Rays of a new born sun.

Winning can be

So much fun,

It can screw you up,

And spit you out,

Until you forget

What real life

Is all about.