Alternatives

 

while it never happened before
blowing my nose now clears
more than the toxic debris
floating in our atmosphere

sordid lumps and gristly bits
don’t cause shudders of
apprehension knowing they are alien
colonisations of failed endeavour

like ideas in the wild espoused by
vague philosophers whose views
are brayed as adroit promotion of
“what’s in it for me?”

it explains why clearing the sinuses
frees me of naive choices between
the worst conceivable alternatives
and throwing tissues away
© 10 July 2009, I. D. Carswell