Beautiful Nose

author’s note:

I wrote this poem after watching actor Adrien Brody get knocked around in the film noir Hollywoodland.

Of course, the poem has nothing to do with Adrien Brody.


BEAUTIFUL NOSE

I must say
your nose
is way too delicate
for those film roles
you want to play.

You try to be
the heavy--but
get beaten
to a raw pulp--

so far your nose
has survived intact
but

that last movie
scratched your bridge
and eventually
that fine blade
projecting from your face...

will get mashed
flat.

My advice is: don’t use
your proboscis
for blocking punches--
use it for sniffing--
I don’t mean sniffling,
I mean
drinking in the breeze
with its scent of newly-born leaves,
with its scent of fresh decay--
but not just that:

also the iron-flavored wind,
even chlorine--let your mind
transform such fragrances
into light.

Let your nose
lead you
into beauty.
We’ve got enough
armored trucks
running over
the earth already.
So...

give the gift
that was given to you
to give.
We need it.

© 2010, Michael R. Patton

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