About Noses

"You built me from ground zero"

I said on the phone, for information,

And inhaled unscented air.

You poked my nose repeatedly

To show your great affection

Each poke a hammerstroke

On my mind's new addition:

An adolescence spent

Weighing beliefs by extremity

Using words as puppet-strings

For giggles, wonder, and dance.

Smelling like Earth and Woman

You moved with the intentions of wind.

I had to glance down at times as we walked

Nose tipped by your primordial-smelling groin.

Years later, I ruined you,

Always blindly talking for information

As my nostrils imbibed heavily of unscented air.

I ruined you with all of the vows I had made,

Especially about never shutting the hell up.

For deconstructing me, and asking for the parts back,

You found ancient Indian wisdom:

Sever the nose.

No point on the body is as essential to the identity;

Inhaling causes the chakras to blow up and buzz.

We know a million yoga inhalation exercises at birth

That define the course of our living.

So while I was romping about,

Getting enough girls to believe in polygamy

Their plasticy perfume went up my shnozz

I thought would be filled with your human scent

To exhale whatever I'll feel like having as creed,

You simply withdrew your maintenance.

At winter's dawn, skin chaps where my nose meets my face.

A friend says, "It looks like it's trying to escape!"