ode to stains

embrace your stains
those blots of evidence
physical prints of memorable or
not-so-memorable times
still footprints of
life
echoing throughout the day
tattooing your very person
&
connecting you with every other human that
lives amongst you
the spit, the snot, the coffee, the ketchup, the
oil, the ink, the glue, the lipstick, the
bastardized blemishes, blotches, soils,
spatters, splotches, smelly
drips, popped zits &
all those
sinister smirches & swapped
secretions left by now forgotten passions---
yes,
they all show a life that has been lived & we
who decide to keep them
walk around with a visually defined
personal encyclopedia of our experiences
wrapped round us as a billboard for the world to see---
so lift up your washer &
like chief bromden did the sink
in one flew over the cuckoo’s nest,
hurl it through the window---
free yourself of the starch white “presentable” world
(a flat flawless plane of fashion with
no memory) &
walk with those of us who are not afraid to scream at the
top of our lungs the etchings of this
fleeting élan vital,
for our
vast breadth of incidents, encounters &
sloppy meals
shine ever so uniquely amidst
the rest of the pristine &
downright
boring.