honesty is something

sometimes I think the words write me

Twice in the last week writers have used the word "honest" to describe our ideal destination in writing poetry. I think the Universe may be trying to tell me something here. I am not honest. Not that I would lie; I am generally truthful. I am, after all, a veritable silver-tongued chameleon of epic proportions. I tease and charm and flaunt classification on gossamer butterfly wings. I draw my heart's ache on the page knowing full well that the emotion is fleeting and will change when the winds do. I barely recognize the truth at all from one day to another. I wonder if I have the necesary maps and charts to get to 'honesty'.

 

Honesty is a pre-requisite for what? Women are notorious for creating a more beautiful honest. We can thank Eve and her luscious, red apple for the beginnings of our rambling half-truths. And if I'm not what you think I am, and frankly, some days I couldn't say for certain, I wonder if I should I put up disclaimers? Truth-in-advertising: "she's not quite sure what she ought to be". Or something like that.

 

I am so many different things to so many different people. But who can say for sure exactly what I am? What if every thing changes with the weather? How do we pare down the honest moments? Because that's all they really are, fleeting little images with a sliver of truth that are subject to change at any given time. How do we create honesty? Shouldn't it be stolid as stone and immune from transformation?

 

And, somehow, I think when these words grow up and blow away, they will leave a shiny, little poem in their place . . .

Author's Note

just foolishness, that's all

Reviews

[Ed Hart]

When your eye ("I") is single, your whole being is filled with light... You want to know what honesty is? Honesty is being true to who you are. We give over playing games. We catch ourselves closer and closer to the game player in our hearts, until finally, there's hardly a burp before we go our way.... ("If to thine own self", etc., etc....)

[cest la vie]

Foolishness? Surely you jest..
this is wonderful and HONEST.
i adore you words..

[Lindsay]

I really enjoyed this. A very thought-provoking and elegant piece.

[cartera]

You could stop your nonsense and make a decision as to who you are based upon who you think you are and aim to be, not who another person or team of sociologists decide who you are. How do you know you are something different to so many people, unless you perceive them as reacting to the face that you have put on for them? Don't be so self-absorbed. Better to consider what the rest of the population is to you. The people who also inhabit the world that we frequent are our mirrors. If we present different faces to them, the image(s) that we get back must be distorted. Only an actor presents different faces to different people consistently. Remember, by 'face' you mean personality.
At work: we have a face. At home: we have a face. With friends: we have a face. With those we do not like we have a face. But integration is the aim. We must try to be the same person to all others. So make that person a caring, interested person, a person who may be the lighthouse for someone when all around the weather changes.
All the world's a stage. Yes. up to a point. But even actors strip off the greasepaint eventually.
Use this piece of musing as a starting place for reflection on

[Lilith des Cavernes]

What an extraordinarily honest piece... pun intended. :-) I read so much of your work. It has a calm about it which feels deeply real. I know moods come and go, etc., but I take exception with the idea that your work isn't honest. To me honesty is not set in stone, but illusive like a butterfly. Love to you

[An Ordinary Woman]

By all the standards of honesty that I'm aware of, you are quite there where you need to be in this moment, and that one and that one ....

This is lovely Emily and I'm sorry to have missed it until now.

[F. Nazarov]

"she's not quite sure what she ought to be"
that made me smile, it's a day in the life of a female :D
I believe honesty is hard to achieve in a written work, but I
think it's more based on the honesty of the moment. Sure,
it may change, but I suppose as writers it's what we do. We capture
we we felt was honesty in the moment and how it changed over time
(if it changed at all).
The fact that things are changeable gives us things to write about ;)
And in the end I suppose, Ich wei� nicht (I dunno).
We can never really be sure.

[LR Young]

I love this: "she's not quite sure what she ought to be" - because it speaks from the truth that is an honest moment. It's all you can do, be with the now. The here, the "what I feel even if I shouldn't." Thank goodness Eve knew her intuition well enough to know she suspected she had a thing for apples.

[Bubo]

Not foolishness at all, beautifully thought out and very wise.
Honesty is the basis of us all.

[ScarletCarson]

I have to say, I admire your writing style. :) It's very insightful, very deep, and it really made me think! ^_^ I believe that honesty, or truth, is based on the point of view of the one receiving it. This is beautiful! :D I'm very glad I stumbled upon this. :P Please read the first three chapters of my book posted here! ^_^ I'd love your feedback. :)

[O!]

haha......like how u end this....ure honest about one thing...."everything comes in place!"......so to me...thats honesty!..

and im sure im being honest about that now! :-P

x,
O!