the alternative
temperature was non-kelvin
it made zero degrees of sense
 and yet still
  he traded in caricatures
   stencils of reality
      tracing paper was a necessary evil
in his search for non-ambiguity
 he fostered a hard line
relying on F pencils
   when his supplier disappeared he
found hope in carpenters tools
  boxes of old nubs and stubs of flat yellow and grey pencils
in gas station automotive shops
 he studied the writings of the technicians
 "valve job needed"
   "customer asked for valvoline oil"
"fuel pump discarded 11-20-76"
   one day he decided to never eat spaghetti again
linguine was okay
he traded a Buffalo Bills coffee mug for a Lance Armstrong autographed photo
  he knew the practice of deceit needed reminding
 he threw darts at it until there was no longer a face