But I must say
Petty looks good on you
Why don’t you make it rain
Since you think you’re so cute

I wish to tell you off
To tell your tainted truth
But I ain’t got the time
To waste my voice on you

I bet the one who survived best
Was the one who did just enough
to spare the lash, but taste no ire
who slipped away when shots were fired

I wonder how they saw themselves
a rat, a man?
God knows what else

In thought as in plan,
in work as in bust

Everything is as was ever done.

I ain't no stranger to strangers.
I got a lot of love to give.
Can't see through to the back of the room.
When the lights go dim,
That's when the violence blooms.

The wispers carry on tension
Of the strings between the cans.
All the brows are down at me
And the words slash whenever they can.

But I've got one thing more
Than anybody with giddy grins
On their plastic faces
And their squared-off chins.

I've got life.

I've got life.

I ain't no secrets to secrets.
Many have been mine to keep.
Heaven knows, I've been a few.
When they got back to their houses,
They wished away secrets they knew.

They scream to break the tension.
If they don't, they go insane.
They poison their faces,
Turn the keys and spill their brains.

But I've got something more
Than loose binds to convention.
I'm a prism of truth
From another dimension.

I've got life.

I've got life.

Even though they say they don't,
I know that they want to know
''How does the other half live?"

To Those Who Say…

Those who say, “And then I said….”
Are short of something in the head;
Hidden pride in there instead.

Those who say, And then I told her…”
Dearest reader, here’s an answer:
“Then I said’s,”
A subtle, passive, ego-centered taking lead;
A mixture of denial, fugue,
(If ever there was such a thing).
It’s not a joke,
And I’m not kidding.

To Those Who Say…6.25.2017
Circling Round Reality;
Arlene Corwin