poem of the day 08.25.11

liars are we

i am a liar
when i tell the small children
with their small children eyes
that i do not know
what happened to their tutor
when i know damn well
that he is dead
i am a liar
in order to protect myself
from the crying and the hurt
from company policy that stipulates
that i give no answer
from angry parents
from the pain of the truth

i am a liar
and that’s just one example
most of you are liars too
it’s not only the government
it’s not only the tax cheat
the warlords in the desert
or the neighbors
you are probably lying to yourself right now
reading this poem
you know
that bullshit that you tell yourself
in order to keep the breakfast down
the great cover-up
lying until you’re blue in the face
telling lies about the job you go to
the people that you love
lying about your life just like me

we are liars
liars are we

i am a liar
sitting at jobs
for people that i do not want to work for
eating in restaurants of the damned
lying when i cast my vote for the president
when i stare at the sunrise and smile
and you are liars right back
telling me to have a good day
in the grocery line
asking me how i am in order
to talk about yourself
collecting friends like sports cards on social networks
kissing ass for a place at the human table
looking into your morning mirrors
with toothpaste smiles
talking your petty bourgeois
politics on a saturday night

liars are we
liars like the american way

i am a liar
i have been doing it since birth
white lie upon white lie upon white lie
infecting my cold black heart
and i do it to get a reaction
i do it to see the smile on your face
i do it for the paycheck, baby
for war and peace and survival
lie after lie after goddamned lie
like turd droppings on my conscience
like an open abscess on my back

i’ll probably lie on my gravestone

here lies so and so
oh, how he loved life

and you are liars too, my friends
(see how easy it is?)
lying to your god
lying to the cable company
and the gas man
lying to the person resting next to you in bed
telling such tall tales
in an effort to get to the next day
where it’ll be easier
where we all know it’ll be easier

the new day where the truth will be

and then they’ll be no more lying
for you, dear kids
and no more lying for….