Poem Ending with a Whimper
The best liar wins.
You can’t stop talking
and the truth embedded in strands
frays with each word slipping
from your cruel mouth.
If I tilt my head just so, I see God.
Or what passes for God at the periphery:
a fly stain on the window, the redness
at the eye’s corner, the shrike’s beak.
Silence fills me daily
and trickles out in utterances and sighs
meant only for you.
Who lies best?
I look to the ground for answers.
What replies is a tail between its legs,
a headless shrug, a whimper.
“Poem Ending with a Whimper” was published in Volume 3 of Lamplit Underground. Thank you, Janna Grace, for taking these pieces.
Lamplit Underground is a beautifully illustrated publication. Please take a look!
O at the Edges 
Indeed, who lies best? I’ve come to judge assertive posturing as almost-surely less than truth; hard to discern between voices which underlying soul is closer to its personal truth, harder yet to calibrate resonance with my personal truths. Enough to make me want to just tune out, turn away from all the assertions. (Yet that would definitely lead to staring at the ground, perhaps an unwise posture in these times?)
LikeLiked by 3 people
I’ve had limited success with my attempts to tune out, so it seems the assertions demand my attention. Darn it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This is truly beautifully written.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks very much, Joni.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is my pleasure Robert. 🤗
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great poem. I loved it. Zora Neale Hurston was nearly right with hurricanes and rabies but her eyes were watching God not the periphery.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I live at, and for, the periphery!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Although it feels clear who’s won, I’m left wondering what the best liar wins, LOL? The upper hand? The battle? The war?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think it depends upon the game. Or the stakes. And who the players are.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was about to make a comment but I read Jazz above and suddenly had nothing to say. Actually a frequent state of mind….
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know that feeling all too well!
LikeLiked by 1 person