I often find that stories
Lose their flavor
In telling them. The good
That we might savor
Or bad flavors get lost
There, in the telling;
And we send scents not those
That we were smelling.
And so, to tell the truth
I lie a lot:
For storytelling needs
A certain shot
Of falsehood marinade,
Therein to baste –
So others, then, will know
The selfsame
Taste
= = = = =
(In response to a Daily Post prompt.)
Sometimes I write about actual events and people I know; sometimes I write fiction. The poems in this series are about actual family events.
Part III
My wife was helping our daughter
Move into a new house
A neighborhood man walked by
Who introduced himself
And offered to help
And now
Fifteen months later
He stands ready to watch her walk down an aisle
He, too, a brave soldier
Soon to be in the same Afghanistan
A man whose father and mother traveled from India
To the Caribbean island where their first son was born
To Brooklyn where he was raised
And he, so full of life and purpose
A joy-spreader, a friend to all he meets
So full of love for my stepdaughter
And she for him
And when the organ music starts playing
It is me playing it
As her actual father walks her in
And for the first time in my life
I am crying at a wedding
Really, really crying
For
So
Many
Reasons
People love to lie because
They know it gives them power;
They use lies to seduce and
To entrap and to devour
They lead fake online lives
That stretch beyond mere pseudonyms;
And play out where the old are young
And where the “she’s” are “him’s”
And often, they’re convinced
The lies they tell are really true;
Or so important, it excuses
Everything they do
And lying’s so ubiquitous
It’s all of a degree
What constitutes a fraud
Or someone real (like you or me)
Or maybe we’re all liars
A distinctly human art
Just telling stories ’round the fire
Fabulists
At heart
=====
For a description of the phenomenon of “catfishing” look here.
During this year
Of writing over 1,000 poems
About life
Despair
Joy
Imaginary affairs
And being clumsy
I’ve put on 40 pounds
So
I’ve got that going for me
[I would apologize to Francis Bacon for using his quote this way, but he was kind of a jerk. – Owen]
You want lies?
For I have many –
Some, I’ve not yet
Used at all –
Or is it
The truth you’re seeking?
Truth, that gray and
Solemn pall
That will cover
All that matters;
Shielding you from
Happiness —
Truth is,
I am just a liar:
Nothing more and
Nothing less
“It is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in and settleth in it, that doth the hurt.” – Francis Bacon, “Essays, Civil and Moral”
Popper’s Guide to Con-Men is
Still valuable today:
For people like to play with truth
In what they do and say
If something can’t be verified
By some method explicit,
You’re better off to mistrust it
Or out-and-out dismiss it
If you are under-challenged
You’ll be called hyperactive
It’s easy to be virtuous
When you are unattractive
When girls think boys are all the same
That’s what they’re sure to find
Since eyes point out instead of in
We’re, all of us, self-blind
