poems about onion bagels

I’ve seen them staring

sideways and shifty

eyelids aflutter, thinking

I’d better be subtle

but it’s too late

for the flare of their nostrils

betrays them

What is that smell?

they wonder and

their wandering eyes

inevitably fall

to me

I’ve seen d-i-s-g-u-s-t

written upon their faces

but I

can read

between the lines

I know

those looks

are not for me

but for their friends

for the others for

the public for

a-p-p-e-a-r-a-n-c-e-s

For when they draw

closed their

kitchen drapes

these puritanical politicians

these religiously righteous

refusers s-t-o-p

turning up their noses —

they come in close

breathe in deep

and taste

I’ve seen them do it

I’ve seen them all