Friday Poem of the Week: This Poem Lies

This Poem Lies

Now just a minute there:

Poems are supposed to be full of truth
Because Keats said Beauty is Truth
And Emily Dickinson advised us to
“Tell the Truth/But tell it Slant,”
So, a poem filled with lies?
I don’t know—
It’s quite a conundrum for
A literature/poetry/writing/philosophy major
As many of us are.

Sigh. Here goes:

The moon is made of green cheese.
NASA is lying to us.
There are UFO’s out there.
The government is lying to us.
The sun is not shining like a red rubber ball.
The Cyrkle is lying to us.
Elvis is dead
And I don’t feel too well myself.

Lies, all lies, including
This poem
And this line
And that’s no lie.

Honest.

–Dan Verner