POEM - Knot Right

Of all the things the physician who delivered me was

A boy scout he was not

Or should I say knot? With a “k”

As in he didn’t know how to tie one

I guess he did OK

As a bouncing baby boy

I did not deflate

Nor flatten or expire or leak out of that little puckering divot

That decommissioned birthmark,

Monument to motherhood

One, though, does expect,

Lives with a certainty

As solid as sun rise

That one’s belly button will not come undone

It’s just that thing you can count on

Gray hair may arise,

Your teeth may fall out,

Bones may falter

But the button will remained buttoned

It will adapt and stretch and grow

A living reliable fixture

Only, I guess I pushed the limits

One too many all-you-can eats on payday Friday

And my button started to leak

I thought it was just some left over water

In the deep maw of a chasm

My weight gain had created

But it was something more – a primordial ooze

            As if trying to reopen the abandoned tunnel

My gut appearing to abandon complacency

Dissatisfied with the capacity of my mouth

Has taken to making plans for a bypass

            A direct main line to the epicenter of engorgement

I took it as a sign

Abandoned the double-bacon-cheeseburger-large-fries-and-coke

Left a tip and walked out the door

Stopped by the book store

Bought a book on knots

Punched myself in the gut

Each time it gurgled a protest