What this piece is REALLY about!...
Keep your nose clean,
my father would say,
and I thought he meant
stay out of trouble
and maybe he did.
My nose? My nose is clean.
I pick it at stoplights
when there's nothing to pick,
scrub it daily, keep it shiny,
not at all like my father's
dirty nose--with every pore
spotted black by neglect.
As he lay on his bed
awaiting the great corridor,
gasping for air, gurgling each breath,
I wanted to tell him:
they have nose inspections
everyday on the other side.