Someone in this Picture

Written for my estranged son, Dennis Shanaberg!

SOMEONE IN THIS PICTURE

 

Someone in this picture

Is lying;

Could it be that the truth

Was a lie;

Could it be that the lie

Was true;

Someone in this picture

Is lying;

Now, I am the judge

Of the truth;

I am not listening,

Anymore;

I am deciding what

Is true;

I can listen with

My own ears;

I can see with

These eyes;

I can, finally, say

This is true

And, unfortunately, that

Was a lie;

I can know in

My heart

And, maybe, my world

Will change;

There is something wrong

With this picture

And I will search to

Find what.

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Jenny Nelson]

Our kids...!!!??? Wonderful write. You get your concern and frustration across quite well. Always trying to figure out what's going on and where it went wrong. I think most parents, especially of older children, will really appreciate this write. Well done.

[Tina Kline]

Lots of pain and confusion. People are so complicated and so hard to understand but its nice when a parent won't give up on their children. That's real love.

[Charles]

Good poem. I like the line length, the interplay of veiled accusation and resolution. The role of the judge is developed well... 'my own ears, these eyes." Judging is the most subjective part of any process that involves weighing one thing against another: chili contest, beauty pageant, poetry competition. Not the most unfair and hopefully not the most biased, but the one step where impartial opinion must be brought to bear on the subject. I might judge this poem a winner and someone else might say it's only so-so. We'd be equally correct in our opinions (though you may agree with only one of us) because our values are different, our criteria are different and the context of judging may differ. See the poem, Supreme Decisions, that I posted recently in the shadow of nominations for Supreme Court justices for a comment about judging - it can be loosely applied to reviewing poetry here... when we skip our stones there is an impact (impingement) on the poet, other reviewers, ourselves. Good job on this one. :-)

[Ed Hart]

yes, blood is finally not thicker than water, and our true family is the community of the heart...

[Coyote Poetry]

The poem is very good. I look at old pictures and need to research my mind to know who he was and what he wanted. Total poem was very good. I like the ending. A excellent poem.
Coyote

[Nathan Durham]

I really enjoyed this. The way the words flowed was very beautiful.