DEODORISE.
It will come as no surprise
us stoma folk deodorise
because, as far as I can tell,
we’re very sensitised to smell.
The source may well be in dispute
but sensitivity’s acute,
so we acknowledge we’re to blame
and often hang our heads in shame.
When a smell seeps from our bag
that smell can be a mental drag
because the pressure that is built
is largely made up from our guilt.
Polluting the near atmosphere
becomes something that some might fear
for, whilst nobody makes a fuss
we are ashamed if it is us.
So, we deodorise a lot,
as that’s a technique that we’ve got
to quell the smell which might offend
those noses on the other end.
Yet I can tell that every smell
does not propel and then expel
from stomas every time they’re smelt
it’s just that that’s the way it felt.
Perhaps we’re far too sensitive
to what can be an emotive
area of our concern
and maybe lessons we may learn.
Deodorising may come near
to make some smells just disappear
but I would say they do not stay
for, if we wait, they drift away.
B. Withers 2023
