Diana Darby ** "I V" ** Intravenous

Smell It Like It Is

In the cleaning aisle
at the grocery store
there are so many air fresheners now
it’s absurd.
They have plug-ins.
Heated oils.
Candles.
Plastic containers you pull the lids off of
and mini fans.
They come in scents like Vanilla Bean,
Strawberry Swirl,
Passion Fruit, Mango.
Tropical Forest,
and Lemon.
They have sprays that smell like nothing,
but supposedly remove odors.
For $3.79 you can buy a spray that smells like nothing,
just air.
Since when did air become so expensive?
When did we as a nation become so afraid of smells?
I personally, am getting sick of walking into restaurant bathrooms
and being greeted by the smell
of Loco Latte or Guava Gusto
and wondering where the smell is coming from.
Why can’t the bathroom just be clean?
Why does there have to be a scent covering up something
that shouldn’t be there in the first place?
It seems to me there is enough covering up going on in this world already.
We have politicians covering up their “activities”.
Husbands lying to wives.
Wives lying to husbands.
Grease Monkeys lying about necessary brake jobs.
The army lying for their “superiors”.
The C.I.A. lying about just about everything.
And the President...
well, don’t get me started.
We have so much covering up going on
even Lassie couldn’t find the scent.
When I walk into a bathroom
I want to smell what’s really there.
I don’t want to be lulled into a false sense
of scent.
Just give it to me straight.
Shit and all.