In the Details

Attention to details is lauded
by prospective employers
and teachers of poetry alike,
but sometimes it’s better
to squint and blur your sight.
No one wants to see
the long nostril hair wave
like the flag of hell
in the breeze of exhale
then sucked into exile
as if it knows
it shouldn’t be there,
or that crooked painting
on the wall behind your boss
when you should be listening
but can’t because it takes
all your strength to remain seated
instead of jumping up
and fetching a level
to make the world right again,
or the singer’s face contorting
into the same blissful ohhh
of the previous night’s orgasm
as he hits the crescendo
of the national anthem
of this nation of details
we’d rather not visit.
And, yeah, don’t ask
how I know his oh-face.
It’s just another detail
that can’t be un-known.

©2023 Kenneth W. Arthur