Posted in Truth

Unexpected

Posted on by tq1695

Just before the end of an interview
the curveball question
perpendicular to topic
designed to unsettle.
“ What is the most important thing to you.”
I answer. With the truth.

They laugh
and ask again
the reply ricochets
pens are suspended
puzzled looks exchanged.

A pause
filled with shuffling paper
is there anything to be added? “No.”
Normal transmission resumes.

It is an elite course they explain
places are limited, competition fierce
finalisation may take six weeks
if unsuccessful, reasons can be disclosed.

The letter arrives with bad news
or, perhaps it is good
and an invite to seek clarification.
Curiosity defeats rancour.

The answer for failure –
a lack of verbal confidence
the answer to the awkward question
Ruth : the person I have spent my life with.

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Author:

Most of my life has been spent on the bench, occasionally called into the game by extravagance or attenuation. Waiting has turned a loner into a recorder - nondescript and inconsequential, more not noticed than overlooked - the non-vantage point of children not yet considered old enough to understand. Orphaned Islands (Un)poetry is a lifetime of picking anecdotes up and not throwing them away. Stories collected like odds and ends placed in a box in the basement, the garage, the garden shed - uncertain as to what their use might be but knowing that one day there might be one.