A Lie so Great

A lie so great
it sticks in the caw of the world's
most obscene emperor
slips through the holes in the information grid

so no one notices, so anyone -

school teacher, postal worker, ski instructor,
auto mechanic, carpenter, accountant,
engineer, lawyer, coach
any human being
carries on, goes to work, sprawls across a bed,
argues with their strongest opponent, wins, loses,
falls to soft moments listening to a cat purr,
makes love, drifts in cold water -

A lie so great
the dumb leer of it incites a million deaths
earthquakes, tidal waves, contagion,
child-headed households, bloated
bodies float the entire length of rivers -

A lie so great it leaves bloody tissue shards on walls
anywhere -A lie like that, the habit of it
underpinning opposing social orders-

I chose a different path -
am looking for ways
to fasten my life
to the fabric of a new society.

Alternatives
start anywhere, a baby asleep on his
father's chest, a creek, forgiveness,
math separate from hoarding,
language innocent of power,

listening, braving truth.

©Susan Bright, 2005.

Susan Bright is the author of nineteen books of poetry. She is the editor of Plain View Press which since 1975 has published one-hundred-and-fifty books. Her work as a poet, publisher, activist and educator has taken her all over the United States and abroad. Her most recent book, The Layers of Our Seeing, is a collection of poetry, photographs and essays about peace done in collaboration with photographer Alan Pogue and Middle Eastern journalist, Muna Hamzeh.


And here is a piece of today's little chatter at the gaggle

McClellan, in Third Day of Stonewalling,
Tells Press They Have Taken a Pound of His Flesh
By E&P Staff
Published: July 13, 2005

NEW YORK In a third day of fencing with reporters at the daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan continued to stonewall on questions surrounding Karl Rove and the Plame case, but admitted. “It may not look like it, but there's a little flesh that's been taken out of me the past few days.”

McCLELLAN: You heard from the President earlier.

Q It has nothing to do with the investigation, Scott, and you know it.

McCLELLAN: You heard from the President earlier today, and the President said he's not --

Q That's a dodge to my question. It has nothing to do with the investigation. Is it appropriate for a senior official to speak about a covert agent in any way, shape, or form without first finding out whether that person is working as a covert officer.

McCLELLAN: Well, first of all, you're wrong. This is all relating to questions about an ongoing investigation, and I've been through this.

Q If I wanted to ask you about an ongoing investigation, I would ask you about the statute, and I'm not doing that.

McCLELLAN: I think we've exhausted discussion on this the last couple of days.

Q You haven't even scratched the surface.

Q It hasn't started.


Maybe it has.

A lie so great


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