Mouthbreather

Cubism Period Portrait by Picasso

did I mislearn this business of breathing
the inhale and exhale of gravity
nitrogen oxygen carbon exchanging
identities subject to rote biochemistry
something that ought not require a thought

yet I’m wont to admit that appropriate
roles of the nose and the mouth in respiring
confuse me and trade functions randomly
leaving me worried about my intelligence
mouthbreather being an epithet even the
stupid can well comprehend and yet here
am I catching myself sometimes swallowing
great gulps of air willy-nilly or dozing above
boring pages of poetry only to wake with a
start at the noise of my dissonant snores

though at least I can find peace and comfort
in knowing I have enough smarts to distinguish
between acts of smelling and tasting with
perhaps the exception of uneasy moments
when coughing and snorting with red-faced
chagrin I would find I had somehow ingested
my umpteenth cold beer through my nose