Lying’s Insatiable Appetite

A child…

offers a sugar cube of a fib, bright as porcelain, it melts into safety;

soon the table is scattering white sugar, Lying

small preservations taught as manners,

a sweetness that stops the scrape.

Kitchens…

 learn the craft lies browned like bread, glazed and sugared,

recipes traded for how to season a denial,

how to mask the bitter seed.

Pantries…

swell with canned promises,

expiry dates rubbed away.

Homes…

are furnished with well-polished untruths,

sofas sutured with half-truths,

wallpaper patterned with rumor,

as the living sit,

arms outstretched for flavor.

Markets…

 open: political pâté, corporate casseroles, pharmaceutical soufflés.

Cities…

 rise on repetition, glass towers reflecting only what’s sold,

foundations sinking into a mud of omission.

The homeless sleep on manifestos.

Every fib is a warm pinch of dough that makes the rest rise faster.

Pharmacies…

display promises behind glass,

pills served with pamphlet-prayers,

politicians stir spectacle into steam,

call smoke a new delicacy; patrons clap.

Truth…

 becomes an expensive garnish;

as the questionable broth fills

the belly and claims the meal.

At night…

the city glows neon certainty,

 offering all makes of heart and mind fast food,

children of all ages continue to chew,

the appetite institutionalized,

an epidemic of misbegotten servitude

 passes plate to plate,

pledge to pledge.

We can only hope…

a single saporous honesty will truthfully pledge

to the surface of honor.

It might be nibble-small,

but not impossible to perceive

for the famished who truly listen.