The truth doesn’t care if I try to hide.
It knows exactly where I am and what
I am doing. It is perhaps like the game
I play while walking downtown
with my daughter. She runs ahead
on the sidewalk, then tucks her body
into a breezeway between buildings.
I pretend I do not see. Vivian? I call.
Vivian? Yooo hoooo. I walk past her,
while looking the other way.
I know that she knows that I know
that she knows that I know where she is.
Here, truth, here I am, I could say. As if I could be
anywhere else. As if I am longing for it to call
out my name so I might run toward it,
my arms open, laughing at the very joy
of being found at last, the joy of knowing
I was never really lost at all.
Ah, now I see where the missing T from the Jack Gilbert poem went.
That fourth stanza, such a linguistic and mental tongue twister. And every repetition has it’s place in the sense of it. Very nice.
And yes, I’d say a capital T.
I wish you could know the Truth of how much I adore this poem.
When I was a little girl, my father and I were in the car. Each of the yellow signs with a black arrow that point the direction of the roadway, I’d whistle. “What was that?” he’d feign. I’d giggle.
Dear Rosemerry- I accepted your invitation to read your chosen poem and hours later I am still here reading your latest work,sometimes crying, sometimes laughing to myself and sometimes just appreciating the magnificent poet you have become. You know I am not a fan of poetry. It always seemed like self important gibberish to me but you drew me in with your commonsense, your ability to reach right and grab your heart and mind when you least expect it and most of all your ability to understand and love our foibles, both ours and yours. I know you don’ t like to be adored but sorry I adore you. Thank you for showing us your deepest parts — and also ours.
Oh Diane, what a beautiful comment. Thank you for being the very Diane that you are. It is, as you know, a very mutual adoration club. Thank you for meeting me in this poetry playground. It means so much to me that you took the time to read some of these poems. Thank you. I love you, R