Conspiracies

Lies are told,
Embellished
With grains of truth.

We agree. We disagree.
No-one cares;
Nothing matters,
Fact or fiction.

We agree to disagree.
To hell with it.
First come, first served,
A quick lie trumps the truth.

We agree and we disagree.
Telling this to some
And that to others
Juggling profiles like Janus,
Duplicitous, two-faced,
Conspirators.

We disagree in secret
But publicly agree
That civility comes cheap;
Our heads are bowed;
Our conspiracy is with silence.

These are the ways
In which we collude: sly,
By hint and insinuation, partial,
Through economies of truthfulness,
Parsimony in every ambiguous word,
In every word we choose to leave unsaid.

Conspiracies, tissues of lies, rag and bone
Assertions made up to suit the hour
Or the audience. Contradictions in terms.
Who cares? Dig the dirt, spin a yarn,
Spill the beans, at any price.

We agree but we disagree,
Desperate to prove our integrity
With different arrangements of the facts.

If only we could utter an honest word
Or commit one honest deed
In this dark and burdened place.

Or, might we just conspire

To embrace the truth, the whole truth

And nothing but (so help us…)?

Free to speak; free at last.

© BH, 2016

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I’m fed up with conspiracy theories. Why can’t we be as energetic about telling the truth? Go figure…