Big Liar

photo by tuasiwatn 

The other day I was wondering why some people lie so much
and asked you what you thought
and you said they don’t think they’re lying 
everybody thinks they’re telling the truth

and I said you mean like artists
like Picasso thought he was showing the world as it is in his Surreal period
even though he thought the same in his Blue Period
when he painted people with one eye on either side of their nose
instead of all over the place 
or no eyes at all

and you said no 
more like the time we hired your brother to paint our house
and he said he had to pay some bills
so could you pay him in advance
you gave him four hundred dollars
and he left town

a year later you refused to go to his wedding
and when your brother asked me why
I told him it was because he cheated you out of four hundred dollars
and he said oh is he still mad about that

you said that wasn’t lying that was stealing
which is probably worse 
though I guess that depends on what you’re lying about
or how much you steal

you don’t have to lie
you don’t have to make a bundt cake
from a Betty Crocker cake mix and tell everybody it’s yours
just don’t tell the truth
let’s say you’re visiting your grandma 
and she brings these muffins out
and you take a bite out of one
and there’s something a little funny about it
and you say what kind of muffins are these grandma
and she says they’re jellyfish-hazelnut muffins
you can always say something nice about the hazelnuts

a guy who used to play in a punk band
is married now and has a child
and says he can’t make that kind of music any more
in fact he can’t even listen to it