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