Flying high in life's stratosphere –
It could be wealth, fame, or even those other
Deep addictions of self-satisfaction
And all those forty days and forty nights behind --
It may be still true that all the highfalutin' details
That enrapture are only puffed-up images of what
We all cope with every day every night.
An article in The New York Times about lap dancing
Research discovered that the highest tips were paid
To ovulating women. The details were depressing really.
Without advance notification of course the men knew
The "status" of the women on their laps: whether they
Were on birth control or menstruating and it showed
In the generosity of the tipping that followed.
This is a mundane topic, seemingly, I know, but
It may also be important way beyond the seamy-ness.
There is no way it can only apply to lap dances, you know.
What if in all things human all facts are known in this
Supremely subtle substrata of communication involving
All the "senses" and the mentalities hidden and known unknowingly?
What if we know what no one wants us to know and we all
Just act as if nothing is known that we want unknown?
And everyone knows it. The secrets of human interaction,
Those layers upon layers that confound us – the psychotherapist
Said "All your problems for all your life will always be people." –
And confuse us like hidden punctuation in long sentences that we
Know we will have to read again and again to understand,
Are actually not secrets at all; they are the opposite of secrets;
Common knowledge so common that comment is unnecessary
To the point of being too well known, in a somatic way, visceral, really,
To even mention. If you do, people look at you with that
Middle-school "duh!" expression and then go right on
Acting as if what we all know is true is completely not true.
It's human nature, I suppose. Our emperor's clothes.
We hide things everyone sees in the camouflage of obvious.
Otherwise, metaphorically speaking,
Who would ever want a lap dance anyway?

10/25/2007

Posted on 10/26/2007
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