Grand Opening To Your Hard Truth Exhibit
Free Verse
go ahead and get out the hard truth
write the thing you really hope your mom won’t read
it’s a trunk show for the truest truth
I want to know the anguish (yes, I know you are fine)
you are avoiding- carve a tunnel now
a grand opening to your museum
your shame gallery that you’re dead set
on self-punishment- your avoidance
of making payments- the student loan balance
in bronze (circa 2016)
and wasn’t it tax day, like yesterday
you can charge people admission
exhibits will pay your way
maybe get something to squander
set fire to the plumbing
and take out a loan
even if you bare your tits
spin the wheel and get a prize
you’re bored and that’s ok
one hall has nothing
call it modern art
on the way to a gift shop
schemes for sale
a vending machine for scratch-off
lottery tickets
never adding things up
exactly and soon it’s the coin star
or the pawn shop
or the check cashing
or an extra job
where you are required
to shut everyone out
until your fingers bleed
and you can’t even strum
the old tune
© Samantha Lazar 2021 - Originally published in The Bazaar of the Bizarre
The painful truth of the life of an artist. Or maybe just life. Maybe we are all artists in our own way, and all life is art. Your piece brought a lot out of me, Samantha. And I loved your reading, being able to hear exactly how you meant it. Brilliant! ❤️
We slave for art as art personified, and the way of the world rewards us with pennies and penance.
Fabulous poem, Samantha! ^_^