IN THESE TIMES, EMILY, NO

by Janet McCann

Tell all the truth but tell it slant — Emily Dickinson

Tell it bent,
refracted in an oblique lens?

No, tell it as a fishhook
caught in smug corpulence

Tell it as drawn blood
Label the dark red vials

Tell it as a sword
mightier than the pen

Tell it as a scream
half an inch from a sleeping ear

Tell it as a siren
a snapped shriek

Don’t hide it in gardens,
bejewel it, dress it in silk

Spell it
Tell it
Yell it

###

Journals publishing Janet McCann’s work include KANSAS QUARTERLY, PARNASSUS, NIMROD, SOU’WESTER, AMERICA, CHRISTIAN CENTURY, CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE, NEW YORK QUARTERLY, TENDRIL, and others. A 1989 NEA Creative Writing Fellowship winner, she taught at Texas A & M University from 1969-2016, is now Professor Emerita. She has co-edited anthologies with David Craig, ODD ANGLES OF HEAVEN (Shaw, 1994), PLACE OF PASSAGE (Story Line, 2000), and POEMS OF FRANCIS AND CLARE (St. Anthony Messenger, 2004). Most recent poetry collection: THE CRONE AT THE CASINO (Lamar University Press, 2014).