Smelling For Decades Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Don't you find it ironic,
That those who laughed...
At the efforts made by others,
Are today those very same people...
Who have flushed themselves down toilets.
And now complain and place the blame,
On the ones cleaning up the mess...
Those who laughed but now in tears,
Have created.

'I don't find that to be ironic.
I find that to be a wish! '

A wish?

'Yes.
Think about it.
If the only thing you knew and was taught,
Is to flush yourself down the toilet...
Wouldn't you be suspicious,
Of someone committed as if devoted...
To a cleaning up behind you?
And with a doing done to ignore your laughter?
Looking at it from their perspective...
I would think those choosing to do that as fools too! '

I hadn't thought of it like that!

'You should.
This atmosphere has been smelling for decades.
And those accustomed to it...
Well,
That stench is all they have known.'