"Do you use soap?"
"Ever heard of a shower?"
"Deodorant exists, man."

I've heard it all before.
The teasing, the snickers.
Usually they'd tolerate it, tolerate me,
before they'd get sick of it,
and tell me straight up:
you stink.
Not that I could really help it.
Thanks for understanding my situation.

But aren't they right?
I do. In life. In body.
In mind. In spirit.
Plagued by filthy personalities.
Shifted into a frightened young boy,
shaped into an odor: a nuisance, an issue.