characters and casings

a man must tell a woman she is
beautiful
(perky, a word that sickens an intellectual,
must nevertheless describe her breasts; her scope
must be large while her tags read small)
70 times before she believes him,
and even then
(our IQs as high as our weights
are low; original ideas must fill
heads of prepackaged hair)
though he is as honest as a scale,
she feels naive.