The Nose Is Up Poem by Gary Diamond

It struts around in the air, surely it does.
Its upward angle can clear a path through the insignificant.
Assume the air of perfection
And those too lazy to question are sure to follow.

If it were to glow bright in a dark room
The ego would be an ugly stomach-bound thing for sure.
The ego that tried to envelope the needy and the easy.

What does a raised nose and a knowing air really say to you?
Is it the reduced tale of breeding, a foppishness
A desire to bleed and burn your fellow illigitimate man.
Could be.
It's the first choice of many.

Some pick up the gun
Others the lute.
Both are good choices.
Both will eventually
Drive the bearer mad.

If a man or woman created it
We could have done without it.
All that is required for basic survival
Is what was already there before we were.

We copy and assimilate nature.
We must have learnt the notion of pride.
It was a foolish value
One of no real meaning but still valued
And it resides
Deep inside.

Beyond reproach, beyond reasonable doubt
The nose is up and the pride is out.
Perhaps each of the gestures humanity holds so dear
The pride, the love, the passion, the fear
Is in fact
Just a doff of sheepskin cap
To that which was all around us.

When all art is merely thievery
Isn't everything else about us too?