Nostril Damn Mess
The putrid, malodorous and fowl nauseating smell
can still be conjured nearly fifty years later wracked
I never forget ineradicable tangy, sulfurous
acrid odor rankled olfaction tract
entire sinus cavity, yet amazingly enough isolate
this offal nose not so gay circumstance, when aye kept sacked
a raw egg - perhaps intended and/or meant
for significant assignment - which found me quacked
up beyond all recognition - unsure if long over due project
by this king of procrastination - which packed
in paper bag bore putrid punch possibly and probably
packing panache polluting air supply
while this mute student lacked
courage to speak up while in second, third, four, fifth,
or sixth grade, which fetid fowl fumes possibly hi-jacked
learning > fostering near flunking, < which acuity co-opted
witnessed yoked and hacked
learning patiently taught by Mrs. Rittenhouse,
Mrs. Wells, Mr. Stout, Mrs. Shaner or Miss Rinderle
respectively, and naturally the classmates cracked
up, and sought means and ways to stymie
this shy boy to achieve academic success bracketed
what appeared asthma constant struggle to catch breath -
as if a heavy smoker, this warrant no act.
Tis time for poetic curtain call
to get at meat and potatoes of this fall
tee winter, spring and some er: how
unintended science project did install
itself sprung from spoilage ova raw egg
buried in the bowels sans me messy kraal
which desk presented a topface linkedin
entire contraption, deep within bowl of assigned seat, this mal
odor us issued every instance hinged surface
raised arose pestilential soundcloud strong enough
to lyft a hefty man to the moon, per such offal
inducing stern rebuke from voices crowdsource sing
within celestial sphere belonging to saint peter or Paul
telling - in shouting biblical verse -
to get maintenance man to fix supposed malfunctioning toilet stall
since unbeknownst to anybody but myself,
rivaled a Roman vomitorium and pitted
as casus belli necessitating one to trawl
amidst shutterfly, SnapChat and springme morass of disarray -
evidenced by basin amidst my own bric a brac wall
finds me zeroing toward crux
and source of sordid smell
recalled by this now middle aged man -
whose presence thru nearly every grade I tell
found me immovable as Stonewall Jackson,
who flinched not, even if another student or teacher did yell
froze Zen statue like a red mar bull mentally conduct.
Copyright © Matthew Harris | Year Posted 2016
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