A recent study determined that the average American tells a small or large untruth about six times in each ten minutes of conversation.

*****

Recorded Reading (2:15): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9xmr0dya7iyy3a8oy21ot/Tell-a-Lie.mp3?rlkey=r0sor7dnvyb389o64z76xnaqg&dl=0

*****

Tell a Lie

It’s your own karmic funeral
My dishonest brother
Go ahead and say one thing
And then do another

You won’t by it more than
Ordinary karma win
The common man does it six times
Each ten minutes in

We have become so far enmeshed
In the culture of the lie
Among us it’s considered
Unrealistic even try

For something so old fashioned
Of such a distant history,
As any concept quaint
As totally outdated honesty

This poet’s been called nihilist,
Called totalitarian,
Juvenile, unrealistic —
She has not even begun

To list the names they’ve called her
For such a simple thing, forsooth:
An ordinary resolution
Just to tell the truth

Required we are to lie and lie
False testimony give
In every single area
In which we have to live

Submerging automatic’lly
Our spirits’ native light
Goes by the name among us
But falsely — of being “polite”

This poet also is polite
But this does not take form
Of falsehood perpetrated
As an accepted norm

Instead, simple considerations
Testify to her intent,
Actions meant to comfort give
Notes and flowers sent

But amid society
One can’t keep friend, associate,
Or gain any advantage when
With truthfulness to them relate

And with the Lie predominant
What comes right after through that gate?
~ Cowardly venality
Hegemony, hate.

There was a time this land upon ~
To get back to it we should try ~
Convinced they were that one must have
A forked tongue to tell a lie

*****

Until removal of the stalker/targeter/vandal/arsonist following her allows her to approach any landlord ~ even for a private parking space ~ and to begin once again to create professional connections and to rebuild her life, this poet presently lives homeless and at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level ~ still working seven days a week to contribute to her society, however.

Arts patrons may visit http://www.UgiftABLE.com , using code #72D-31S, or choose to send a personal check to the poet’s ABLE account. It takes about two weeks for the poet to be notified of your patronage.

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