The Unnecessary Explanation Of Cotton Candy Poem by Bill Upton

I read a poem about a footprint left in the snow,
And it gave me more than I had bargained to know.
By the end of the description,
I knew the height and depth of the impression,
The amount of snow on the ground,
Fahrenheit and Celsius readings of the temperature,
Approximate time of the impression,
Wind patterns that could create drifts
To cover up the impression,
The type and size of the shoe worn by the actor
Making the impression-
Everything and more that I did and did not
Need to know about the shelf life and upbringing
Of the impression.
The poem entered into a dimension that could only intrigue
Molecular biologists and coroners.
It became a verbal mosquito, a nuisance in the middle
Of an otherwise entertaining sensory garden party.
There is only so much flotsam and jetsam one can tolerate
Until one must continue to search for the vessel.
It is inconsequential to know of every detail of every
Snowflake in a blizzard.
It is imperative to define the blizzard and to figure out
What it represents,
How to conquer it,
How we would emerge from it.
And our explanations should lead to individual questioning
And curiosity from the reader
Who will eventually have his own take on the issue.
It is a poet's duty to cause the reader to think deeper thoughts,
Sometimes in untraditional terms or in heretofore
Dormant methods of reasoning.
It is not to keep the reader's mind fixated on minutiae,
Exposed in lengthy diatribes of description
In order to brush up on his literary impressionism...
Ad nauseam.