Clearly Misunderstood

I took the NaPoWriMo challenge: "Try writing a poem that responds to or riffs off of one of someone else’s NaPoWriMo poems." This poem is a spin-off a participant's blog title rather than a participant's poem.

Clearly Misunderstood

The masthead read, "Elegant Truth."

It is a lie. When is the truth

elegant? When first spoken, truth

rubs like sandpaper. To hear

-your baby's dead

-you've lost your job

-you have cancer

can all be true

but never

elegant.

Bespeak the truth with honeyed lips.

It is still truth. Whisper sweetly

words of dissolution, of death-

-she's in heaven

-budget crisis

-six months to live

though maybe true,

truly not

elegant.

Perhaps the writer of the masthead

meant to pen "Elephant Truth."

Truth tramples like the elephant.

Its power can coil round you,

constrict breathing

flatten spirits

immobilize.

Clearly not

elegant.

©2011 R.M. Talbot