Tag: Dean Young

I ran across this True/False post on Poetry Foundation when I was looking for a poem about jury duty. (Go figure!) Dean Young is a surrealist poet who wrote “True/False” in 2006. His number 5 was “I like jury duty.” That’s the only reason I found this relatively old poem. Then I wrote some of my own. Like Lay’s, I just can’t seem to stop at one or a few…Now, I’m thinking of using it as my prompt for #Verselove in April. What do you think? Is it inviting enough to wonder about the veracity or falsehoods written here?

True/False
After Dean Young

1. I am much younger inside than I appear outside.
2. Jury duty is for the birds.
3. Ishmael is also a son of Abraham.
4. Guns have no constructive purpose.
5. The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
6. I alone can fix it.¹
7. The day you eat it your eyes will be open.
8. I don’t need a reason.
9. The waves are singing a song of thrones.
10. Time and again, you’ve picked me up.²
11. MAGA is the GREATEST.MOVEMENT.EVER.
12. Crocheting is better than knitting.
13. The fire fixes the folds of the clouds.
14. Spring is the most glorious season.
15. The future will be a feckless sucker punch.
16. That dish is not too hot.
17. I want to play all the games.
18. I forgot my suitcase.
19. How do you know I’m tired?
20. Civility is not a sign of weakness.³
21. There is chaos in spilled milk.
22. If it’s night, the granite glitters.
23. Diagramming sentences is essential.
24. Israel wants to make room for Palestine.
25. Fiction and myth hold the truest truths.
26. My children are my life.
27. The tea leaves will tell the story.
28. Fear is the most debilitating emotion.
29. You can have too much storage space.
30. Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.⁴
31. Everything is better with a Snickers bar.
32. Your ego is a ridiculous tyrant.
33. Vegetarianism is the tastiest way to eat.
34. Capitalism is killing our planet.
35. California should secede.
36. He’s like a snake lifted in the wilderness.
37. I have decided to stick with love.⁵
38. Hate is too great a burden to bear.⁵
39. I hate writing every day.
40. The badger is still asleep in its den.
41. KFC makes the best chicken.
42. In 1942, hope faltered.
43. In 1492, Columbus should have stayed home.
44. In 2942, Jesus may or may not return.
45. Truth is not false.
46. We will overcome someday.
47. You are never too old to play softball.
48. That tiny silver sliver in the sky is still full.
49. The computer in my pocket rules the day.
50. Dean Young was an ordinary poet.

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¹Trump
²Obama
³JFK
⁴FDR
⁵MLK, Jr.