-the science behind the art of the squint with a closing nod to e.e.cummings-

squinting increases the lowest value in middle tones.

it's also engaged when reading the restaurant menu
at table 6 if Auntie Pauline forgets her eyeglasses.

the squint is also applied when one is quizzical,
as in confronting something nearly undefinable,
(see: Joan and Pataphysics) ––
and is a near requirement in the studios of just about every

art school this side of Jingles' East Sedalia.

applied to poems in print, squinting
compresses the field of darker text while lowering

the intensity of the brighter field of the illuminated screen.

we start at the screen.

like unmarked paper before it, the illuminated screen is good-looking,

and sometimes, with the assistance of a healthy dose of imagination,

reflects street-life behind us; the insistent joggers passing,–– and

panting dogs stopping on occasion for a quick sniff of the good stuff.

now, it's true I've been away for quite some time, and returning,

it seems that the application of the squint has become

something of a lost art as defunct as, well,–– e.e.'s "Buffalo Bill".