ReadWritePoem # 93 - Delicious, Tainted, Confessional Fib

Silly fibs don't fit my mercurial nature

the "I was the maid of honor for a Duchess at the Notre Dame" or

"I was the mid-morning talk show rival for Jerry Springer's second assistant" wilt on my tongue

I prefer scab tearing confessionals

The big, two fisted fibs like

the decision to fib

the indulgence of the fib

one solitary fib

Births infinite others like

I love you I don't

I want you I won't

I need you I'm nowhere you look

The scribbled fibs via text and email

"My car broke down" or

"My phone was dead" or

"I miss you (not)"

There she stands, brittle haired and

straight backed her hands dry from

years of pressing printed petitions

into the hands of tired diners

"Give me your money, I can not speak or hear"

Without lifting my eyes I share

"I don't have any extra..."

"I don't have any extra for you..."

"I dfon't have any extra for you in my wallet..."

"I don't have any extra for you in my wallet.. wait... I see myself in your eyes..."

"I don't have any extra for you in my wallet.. wait... I see myself in your eyes...and that scares me"

Which is it?

The lusty truth dies

The tainted fib lives

Silly fibs don't fit my mercurial nature

the "I was the maid of honor for a Duchess at the Notre Dame" or

"I was the mid-morning talk show rival for Jerry Springer's second assistant" wilt on my tongue

I prefer scab tearing confessionals

Comments

[gautami tripathy]

I really like the repetitions. They work so well!

tale of two toes

[Neil Reid]

A lovely confessional! Poems like these are the reason I hang around. So yes, thanks for writing. And yes, the imagined razor's edge, very nice and how so oft it does seem. Thanks.

[Paul Oakley]

Ah, the life filled with little lies...

I like your repeated lies to the panhandlers. Well, not the lies, but your telling of them. :)

[Julie Jordan Scott]

Gautami - Thank you. I had several versions going, all had repetition in them and certain sounds throughout, which I did very much on purpose.

Neil - what a compliment. I am grateful you hang around. When I post poetry, I am almost like a child, hoping people respond. I appreciate it.

Paul - the "brittle haired woman" is one I saw last night, have seen her around town for years and I get so uncomfortable with my discomfort as far as she is concerned. It is intriguing to me how she pops up in so many places, too. She isn't a metaphor, she is a real person... and how often such people ignite the layers of lies we speak and don't speak.

[Nathan]

I agree, the repetition works really well for you here.

[Barbara]

I love the phrase "big, two-fisted fibs"

[David Moolten]

I love the repetition in this, which really suggests the kind of mantra in which someone is trying to persuade herself/himself. I also like how you've "fleshed out" fib with lots of physical attributes.

[Deb]

Oh, so much to like. While I like the repetition, I *really* like the folding back on itself the poem does with it, changing the thrust with the changed order at the end.

And at the center, the unfolding self-observation of responding to another's need. (One I am confronted with a lot, due to my route to my day job.)

(I haven't been handed one of those cards in a long, long while. Ironically, I was thinking about that not too long ago.)

Thanks for fibbing, too.

[Francis Scudellari]

I like how it builds from the small fibs to that "scab tearing confessional" of a fib that fell apart when you looked in the woman's eyes, and then repeats that great opening.

[Nicole Nicholson]

I have to agree with the commentors -- I love how you contrast the grand, fanciful lies with the the ones we tell because of the uneasiness inside or the ones that really hurt. Good job.

-Nicole

[Julie Jordan Scott]

@Nathan - It is significant to me, as the writer of this poem, how certain aspects work on different levels. I look at the repetition now as symbolic of the repetitive lies we tell, oftentimes subconsciously. Intriguing thought, thank you for opening it.

@Barbara - that phrase was inspired from a Burger King "Whopper" jingle. The prompt asked for "Whoppers" and that is my homage to the prompt. LOL "It takes two hands to handle a whopper, a two fisted burger from Burger King"

@David - physicality within my words helps me create. When I can take something from my interior and make it three dimensional, I think it connects me more to my reader. Thank you for the affirmation it works.

@Deb - I loved this prompt. Opened a lot in me! The syncronicity that you were thinking of what I experienced as I wrote... hmmmm. Twilight zone music anyone?

@Francis - some of my readers shake their heads at me for how much I tell on myself. My hope is always that my telling on myself inspires others to at least think differently, if that makes sense. I am grateful you read and commented.

@Nicole - you point to something significant - fibbing due to uneasiness or fear. I wonder if we wiped out fear how much lying we could wipe out as well? Hmmm.