*****

Recorded Reading (1:46):

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/drg13hzf0apd69rge8jvt/Unsimple-Honesty.mp3?rlkey=2f00pmxihhxpglj094blqrifo&st=wjshl1en&dl=0

*****

Unsimple Honesty

Today some thought me wise,
And some me stupider, forsooth,
As a grey haired counselor,
Than a callow youth

Today some thought I said some things
An honest mind can’t get around,
By others only shallowness
Or even evil were there found

Today some people went,
When they the blessing sweet receive
Of word of self forgiveness,
Feeling that reprieve

And others saw with more dismay
A cage that they had built
All for themselves, of compromise
And cowardice and guilt

Some readers then reached back
A sweet pertinent word to say
About personal benefit
They taken had away

And others felt some kind of need
With it to compete
Though it were writ intentions with
Clear, and bright, and sweet

Some saw the role since ancient day
Of lyric poetry:
Celebration of all human
Perspectives there be

And some wished to debate
About the legitimacy
Of this or that emotion
As if ’twere base Philosophy

What was it that I wrote,
What is it that I might have penned,
To such diverse reaction
Amazedly pretend?

The answer won’t enlighten much
This wonderer, forsooth:
All I did today was tell
The simple, honest truth!

*****

This poet/editor is physically disabled, and lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

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