My friends say I am tall

butt-ugly

and rich

that kind of old rich that’s like radiation

they say

so that it’s always going in invisible 

waves

and people suddenly want to be

guys

with me. 

My friends are a good looking group

except me

their hair is greasy

skin

pale. 

I try.

I mean,

I have lesions. 

one

on

my jaw. 

red and 

wet-looking. 

standing out 

by trying to stand

in. 

My friends think I am hideous

"perhaps some texture there"

they say,

until I open

my mouth, that is. 

In response

I chose

to keep it closed

until my lesions 

spread across my lips so that
I no longer have

to open them. 

My family says that I am part of a 

secret patriotic experiment. 

My real name is 

Abraham Lincoln. 

His DNA a replica

of mine.

My friends know I’m a clone. 

But what they don’t know is that

I am not just a clone of a man

from history

I am a clone

of humanity

hoping to malfunction

in space

to stop

the way

they 

judge

me.