Narrative Poetry · Parenthood Poems · Poetry · Thoughtful Poems

Telling Lies, a poem

Sumyanna

TellingLies

It started
With a lie
Not a large whopping lie
But a small one, or so I thought
Not that the size of lies matters now,
But things are always easier
In retrospect.
I called all my friends
From around the neighborhood
Begging them to come quickly
I told them Mother had said
We could watch TV
Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
And sit on her white couch.
Truth be told,
We had a fabulous time –
We enjoyed watching cartoons
While mother was at a neighbors, unaware.
She wore shock on her face
When she returned
All the color had drained
As she surveyed the mess of children,
Some stretched out in front of the TV
Other leaving fingerprints on her white couch
And still others,
Perched on her kitchen counter-top
Making more sandwiches.
The jelly jar was empty
And we sat and stared
With peanut butter mouths full,
Unable to speak.
My mother had that look, you see
The kind of look that quieted a room of children
We all knew that danger lurked not far.
I’ll never know what compelled me
To send invitations to a party
When no one knew the truth but me
But if I could whisper you a secret
I can promise I’ve never thought to do it again.

(c) Sumyanna 2017

Written for the prompt “tell about a lie you told”
Wonderful photo courtesy of Pixabay.com

Published by Sumyanna

Writer of poetry and seeker of knowledge. I hope to inspire and be inspired by my words and the world around me.

18 thoughts on “Telling Lies, a poem”

  4. Somehow it is so easy to lie, but often the consequence are terrible, like the Bee Gees hit I started a joke which started the whole world crying, and now I hit my head from things that I said … It is incredible how good we had become at lying, whole governments lie all the time, whole big corporations lie. For instance what do Kellogg’s/ Rowntree and General electric have in common. They are the two biggest arms producers in the world, but it feels better to say that one produces sweets etc. than arms and ammunition! Trump is very good at this, as is our President Jacob Zuma.

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    1. Sorry I hadn’t responded sooner Charles. Things have been crazy over here. I have two kids sick and two I am trying to enroll in college classes. I have lost my head 🙂 Truth be told, we should be taught at a young age to value truth. I see people who so easily use it as a tool and barely understand its consequences. It’s not to say we all don’t do it, but if we knew its importance, perhaps we would do it less. Anymore, the media poses innuendo, assumptions, and straight out lies as fact. I get exhausted from all the noise and it seems that many focus too much on the bleak and horrible aspects of life. What would happen if we started to praise those who make a difference? Would more perhaps start trying to make a difference? It is sad to think we need a prod to do good, but what about those who are affected by that kindness? I doubt it would matter then. We need to change. We need to change. We need to change so horribly much.

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      1. We do need to change, sometimes the truth can be very hurtful, so maybe sometimes it is easier to lie by keeping silent. The press has a lot to answer for, but then it seems that it goes deeper than the press. It goes down to the fact that we look at worth incorrectly. So economic meens is all important, so press barons make sure that only stories that sell, make magazines and papers, TV etc. This is perhaps one of the very important things about the internet, as for the first time people have the ability to tell truths, and help people see the future without money and worth being involved. There are many good things going on in the world, but we never really get to hear about them. Day to day people help each other in little ways, some without even realising it. What we need is a new outlook on life, that does not depend on ideas and philosophies that are now 300 years old, and often have no application any more. Our political systems need a huge overhaul, as do things like the way we look and respond to each other.We need to love and respect ourselves and other and every aspect of life on earth. We need to move away from consumerism. We need to explore the love of God again, and acknowledge in a meaningful way that the same God created all religions, and looks on them all equally. So we need to bring religion and prayer back into our lives, and look past our differences to our common features. Out here we quite often have all the religions taking part in funerals, prayers for rain and such the like.

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        1. So incredibly true. I do think that while the internet has caused (or can cause) some harm, it has also given voice to many that were not heard. For once, we all can see (if we open our eyes) the atrocities around us but also the beauty. From that we can decide for ourselves what to accept. I think it is a good thing to allow people to think for themselves, instead of feeding them what you think is important. Of course, people can still be misled, but many more peoples’ eyes can be opened this way.

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          1. Absolutely, but you are right there is some really terrible things on the internet, and I suppose this is inevitable, as people are not really going to think about the outcome of their post, they are just going to post it. (though I think a lot of horrid stough is put on very purposefully. I think you’re right, people should be left to choose and interpret posts as they see fit. Certainly some people have interpreted my poetry in very interesting ways, many of them I had not thought of or meant, but once a peace is in the public domain it takes on a life of it’s own, and people will interpret it according to their own thoughts feelings and needs. I am actually often quite exited about that.

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          2. Oh, I’ve had some people be rather nasty with me but I have learned it is necessary to grow your own strength. Believe in what you do and who you are. They cannot take that away from you. If they try, you know it is a failing in themselves not you. It is sad that the internet allows that to come out of some people, but before the internet we had bullies. It’s not much different.

            Keep on writing and sharing. I highly doubt it goes unnoticed. If I did, I would not be doing it 🙂

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          3. I’m sure it all makes some difference, and if some choose to interpret things differently, so what! It is sometimes really enlightening to read contrary views. The worst comment I have read so far is someone pointing out that I had misspelled a word, so I just changed the spelling, and thanked him for bringing the mistake to my attention.

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          4. I’m going to guess that some platforms have more issues than others. Here, I have not had much of a problem. Other places are riddled with problems. I am glad to have made this my home. I do enjoy the peace 🙂

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          5. Actually I am very happy with wordpress as well, I also put stuff on Facebook, G+, and Pinterest, but have very little feedback on any of the others. My only beef is that I can’t seem to post music any more.

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          6. Yeah, it is hard not to be able to share videos. I find some so worthy of sharing. I am quite happy here. It gives me more time to focus on what is important, but also requires me to write and read.

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