Poetry Month: The Truth 24 of 30

For the month of April, I'll be writing poetry each day in celebration of National Poetry Month.  I've decided not choose a theme, not to plan the writing, but instead to wait to see what poetry finds me each day. 

The truth
isn't painted by word artists
twisting
reaching
creating a story
from a small nugget.

The truth
isn't found by journalists
searching
molding
discovering a crumb
trying to make it dessert.

The truth
isn't heard from politicians
declaring
proclaiming
their version of a story
tainted by money.

The truth
in today's world is often
silenced
hidden
colored by glasses
we don't know we wear.

© Cathy L. Mere, 2018

Comments

  1. ZING!! Wow! So much TRUTH here. The contrast between the last two lines of artist and journalist is powerful -- the same, but...NOT. And those glasses we don't even know we wear... (Such a different take from the glasses you wrote about yesterday!!!)

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  2. Wow, wow, wow! I agree with Mary Lee. HUGE truth here. Each of the stanzas, so different, and so perfect. And that last stanza! I want to share this one with my middle schoolers!

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  3. Truth is often clouded by beliefs and values. I recently taught "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. There's a chapter called "How to Tell a True War Story" that gets to the ideas your poem alludes to. However, we can know whether or not something is a fact, but how we interpret those facts is another thing.

    I'd be interested in know what you mean by your use of "journalists." I'm bothered by attacks on the press, most coming from Trump and the talking heads on Fox News. The press, comprised of journalists, have a responsibility to be a check on government. I see those trained in their professions as truth seekers. Often a big national story grows from "a small nugget." That happened w/ Watergate, for instance.

    Your last stanza is my favorite as it speaks to confirmation bias and the tendency most have to have a narrow world view. In my job I teach students how to look at multiple sides of an issue. We have lots of discussions about this responsibility and the pitfalls we all face in seeking truth, in trying to understand the world.

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  4. Glenda,
    Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I haven't read "The Things They Carried," but I do appreciate your point about interpretation as it adds another layer to the conversation of truth.

    Your comment about "journalist" speaks to the importance of word choice in our writing. Every word matters. I wrestled with using "journalist" here as I did worry that in today's world it would be interpreted as "fake news" which wasn't my intent. Like you, I value the journalists who work to keep us informed and uncover truths. In the last two years I have learned, however, to pay attention to the sources of information I read. I work to read different perspectives, but I prefer to find information that seems free of interpretation. That can be tricky.

    Your comments have me wondering how we get beyond our biases to stay informed.

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