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Light, Truth, and I don't Know.

Three poems by Autumn Slaughter

Light

Light is
stronger than
darkness. Says
Buddha, says
Jesus, says
I.

One is
measurable.
relatable.
Can be told
and described.
Never fully
felt, never fully
understood.
But captured.
Contained between
letters. Though
the words often
bend with the weight
of their burden.

The words never
bend with joy.
Are instead always
empty, as experience
dances like butterflies
in the air. Refusing
to settle long
enough to be
described. To be
related.

Light is
stronger than
darkness. Because
you cannot
hold it down with
mere human
hands.

Truth?

Who decides
truth? That
gut wrenching
reaction so
unstable. I know
nothing because I
think. Truth.
not defined by
a mystic
deep
down
feeling
constantly changing
different
for
everyone
including
me now
and
me then. Are
we all gods of
different stories – 6
billion realities
created by six
billion contexts,
experiences?
Who
Decided romanticism
was the king of
prose? Who took
his crown. passed it to
realism.
modernism.
Now.
The Public? If I know
Something they do not--
Does that truth break?
Break just for me?
Scatter?
Demote to the
status of
opinion?
Who decided skinny
was good
big noses bad
balding unsightly
And when that changes
who will discard
these truths
and how?
Are new ones crafted
First, groomed for
promotion, or are
They swept on
stage as last minute
additions? I do not

know.
Do know
I am not the who,
it is not I dictating
to the universe. to
the narrative. I Know
the power is not mine. But
also
also know
truly, really
know
in a way somehow different
than a gut wrench, than
opinion masquerading,
than empty words. Somehow
I know.
i know. you.
You are
completely
unequivocally
beautiful
and that is
truth.

​I don’t know.

I can’t answer
that
question. The
doubt that
is escaping from
you, replacing
the oxygen in
the air
permeated me
a long time
ago. “I
don’t know”
but I am
afraid to
admit it. Admit
the chasm
opening at your
feet is not just
a figment of
imagination, does
not have a
sturdy bridge,
is actually as
deep as it
looks. I don’t
know.

but
maybe you
already
know that,
and aren’t
asking for
a bridge. Asking
instead for
someone else
to admit that
what you see
is real. That the
problem
exists. That it’s
big.
Why else
would you
calm down,
and almost
smile, when
I finally
work up the
nerve give you
my answer.

Autumn Slaughter is a clinical psychology doctoral student at the University of Tulsa. In 2017 Autumn’s poetry was part of the third annual TEDx Tulsa event. Autumn's poetry has appeared in the Paragon Journal, The Write Launch, and an Oklahoma anthology.
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  • 2021 Feb Folio
    • 2021 Feb Folio Masthead
  • About
  • Feral Parrot : The Blog
  • Submissions
  • Black Lives Matter
  • Awards & Prizes
    • Handley Award Winners
    • 2019 Inscape Editor's Prizes
  • PCC Inscape Instagram
  • STAFF
    • Fall 2020 STAFF Q&A
    • staff-SPRING 2019
    • Staff-FALL 2019
    • Staff-SPRING 2018
    • Staff -FALL 2018
    • Staff -FALL 2017
  • Interviews
    • INT - Adrian Cepeda Poet of the Year 2019
    • INT-Visiting Writer Wendy Adamson FA2019
  • ONLINE ARCHIVE
    • 2020 Summer Folio
    • 2020 February Folio
    • 2019 Fall Folio
    • Celebrating Dia De Los Muertos
    • Issue On-7 2019SPR Mental Health Companion >
      • Issue Intro
    • ISSUE ON-6 2018FA Frankenstein Companion
    • Issue On-5 - 2018Su
    • Issue On-4 2018FA Spirituality
    • Issue ON-3 2017FA
    • Issue On-2 2016SPR
    • Issue ON-1 2016FA
    • Folio 2 - Moon Moon 2019
    • Folio 1 - Vote - 2018
  • PRINT ARCHIVE
    • Fall 2018 Print Issue - Frankenstein TOC
    • Fall 2017 Print Issue - Manifesto TOC