My ears are overburdened all the day
with clutter, not with sound. Please take away
my hearing aids, my spectacles, my mask
which crowd my lobes. Is it too much to ask
that these be lifted, or that when I pry
them off that they not intertangle? Cry
I do as they bear down and pinch my skin:
O what a tortured mess my flesh is in!
If only I were sure of my good health,
I'd join the anti-maskers on the stealth.
But since I'd like to hear and see and breathe,
once more my ears encumber, hook, and wreathe!