HONESTLY, I THINK NOT #poetry by jay

honesty is bullshit

it takes sweat

it takes regret,

stuffs it up the long forgotten

lies you perfected-

down the throats

of those you claim to love

or perhaps, at least

those who hang around the fringes

of your life

pretending you matter.

a sick kind of dichotomy

stretching the wretched 

confines of your mind,

the worst parts of those recessed

valleys, dark dank and rarely visited.

virtuous nonsense, yes virtue 

can exhibit signs of it

the bullshit, i think i’m preferring

the silence, peace, let’s keep it quiet

honesty keeps one pure, less dark

stark and starched white

in beliefs 

actually-  often left naked and hung out

to flake away into a creeping

regretful silence that awaits 

your chosen preference of the day.

©Jay Mora-Shihadeh – revision #2 9/1/21

Photo by Josie Stephens from Pexels