Lately

I learned lately that

stories contain

Subconscious misrememberings

Warping time and space and

Absolute truth.

In avoidance of shame and pain

past gets treated like a fluid thing

But other folks with more

rigid minds simply

Will not drink the tea

Honest speaking so subjective

Who can tell another’s truth?

Do past mistakes

Define truth anew?

Maybe build a better you?

Other stories sound

Real and solid

Like fir trees planted

On top other truths

Just as valid

The beast peeking out from

The beauty’s eyes

Scares me down to my soul

And it urges me to

Stare down truth

Sometimes truth

Makes me weep and feel

Stepped on too

And I vow to try to face

Truth with courage

And to reconcile

Myself to be both

Aggressor and victim and

To remember the fluid

Nature of time.

Janet Romain