But She Was Not a Truthful Woman

Pay even the least attention
To a family’s dynamics,
And it’s clear that for linguistic,

Obligately social apes,
There’s no peace without collusion.
You must participate in some

Lies in order to get along.
Lies are truth’s bilipid layers,
Zippered, double-sided cell walls

Protecting the machinery
Of any kind of social life
That runs on talking. That’s the truth.