4

(True Lies)

“Is that you, baby,
Or just a brilliant disguise?”
Bruce Springsteen

sometimes the lie that
lies in your hand,
less blatant than the lie that
lives in yesterday’s heartbeat,
is yet more notable for
its rigid normalcy,
the major concern being
nothing to be concerned about

flawlessness is the most
glaring
flaw of all
even in it’s staunch
devotion to perfection it
hurls you into uncertainty

a shadow without an object
to cast you, overwhelmed
by some looming something,
vague and laden with
contagious possibility

Poem by Shane Douglas Keene

READ THE SERIAL NOVEL BY JOSH MALERMAN