An Inconvenient Truth
Sept 30 2008


What to do
when the truth hurts?
When it stands eye-to-eye
takes you by the neck
and tries to shake some sense
into you
— the plain truth,
the whole truth,
nothing but the truth
so help you God.

You duck and weave, of course,
learn to slip from its grasp,
make yourself small.
Or skip the definite article altogether —
because a truth
is the convenient kind,
no modifier required.
Where you can choose
exactly which version you like.

But the brutal truth
is immovable.
It’s coarse wool against your skin,
the too-tight neck.
It’s that itchy back
no one else can scratch,
— further right, no left . . .
. . . now harder!!
It’s the zit in the middle of your forehead,
blinking-out at the world like a 1000 watt light.
Before a word’s been said,
you feel Illuminated
scrutinized
and wish you could hide
— that you were nothing more
than some insignificant lie
of omission.