PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

by Jeph Johnson

I kept explaining it to myself,
"It's only a cinematic enigma"
How could someone look that good?

"Airbrushed,"
Mama said,
"Those centerfolds"
...with imperfections seeping from her pores...

"No one has it all together."

-then the flawed visage blurred-
soft-lenses
powder
snowlike
almost as chalk
when pounding the erasers
in Miss Finch's second grade class

I recall no imperfections in her either...

She is the first person
to hear me
use the
F-word.

"Now who told you to say that?"
She asked.

"The movies...I heard it in a movie.
What does it mean, Miss Finch?"

"It is an inappropriate word
that has a few different meanings,"
Miss Finch explained it,
in all of her perfection,
"and when you get older,
you'll find out all of them."

"Mama, what's 'fuck' mean?"

And that's when
she took out the Playboys
and taught me about
airbrushing the imperfections away.