Fuzz
Michael Loveday

It was dress-down Friday.
The staff meeting. He didn’t come
on time, and was wearing
his favourite bow tie (magenta silk,
that gift from his wife). Nobody
clocked him at first – he’d slipped in
at the back, behind the crowd
standing cramped, unlistening,
swigging the free juice.
Dawes was up front, in mid-flow,
gushing through something
about the bottom-line. Then Dawes
faltered. Stuttering, he narrowed
his eyes on something
behind us. And I turned –
we all turned – to find
Roger, hands on hips, peering
forward, his hard pale body gleaming
at everyone. A grin curled
over his stupid mouth, he stood there
as some Scott of the Antarctic,
resolved to push on with a lunatic
adventure. And yes, there were gasps;
and someone dropped their
glass; and someone spluttered
“Roger, for God’s sake,
don’t be a douchebag”.
But all I could think about
was the warm dark fuzz
that gathered over his belly button –
always my favourite part –
everyone there owning it now.

Michael Loveday’s debut pamphlet, ‘He Said / She Said’, was published in 2011 by HappenStance Press. His poems have been published in magazines such as Ambit, Brittle Star, Iota, Other Poetry, Smiths Knoll, Stand, The Rialto and Tears in the Fence.

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