As Soon As You Open Your Mouth Poem by Patti Masterman

As soon as you open your mouth to say a word,
It begins to turn into a lie, on more than one level.
First, it lives in the past already,
From which you have just re-animated it;
Made it into a puppet, only toward
Your own purposes.
And even if the word isn't a lie right away, it will be-
In a day, a few weeks, a month; as time goes on,
It strays further and further from what's true.

The world is slowly filling up with word-lies,
All crashing into one another at dizzying speeds.
When someone tells you solemnly, now what I am about to say
Is the complete truth- even if they swear on their heartbeats,
Their grave, the honor of their family for a thousand years-
Close up your ears tightly, for what is coming cannot hold the truth,
Any more than a sieve can hold water.

Even arguing on the side of the truth generates more lies,
Whose truth is always expiring like a parking meter,
Second by second, before the words even leave your mouth.
Better yet don't use your tongue at all; let the truth stand on its own,
And let lies congregate together, with their own kind.

But never try to say, that you always stood for truth or justice-
because the very words, because they have the nature of words,
Will reduce your demonstrative principles instantly to ash.
Finally, don't even believe one word of this- it's already blowing dust,
In the devouring autoclaves of time.

What is that you say- you have something in your eye?
Well don't try to name it, for god-sakes; names are only a different set of lies.
Everyone is already choking on enough, don't you think?