Sanitized Is The Whiplash Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

What is done to see.
And hear to be heard.
Takes a sudden and severe u-turn.
By one from a podium.
Contradicting revelations learned.
Dismissing the experience.
And the heat of it that left,
Many upset and concerned.

Sanitized is the whiplash.
As stiffened necks support shaking heads.
Leaving those who witnessed this,
Completely disbelieving...
What to them was being said.
Yet made to be convinced,
Tragic comments to them made.
Were neither mentioned nor heard to occur.
Since such words at an event,
Would make no sense to consent to them.
Obviously understanding.
And comprehension was blurred.

"But...uh.
We were all there.
Listening and with undivided attention given."

And when you say all,
For clarity purposes.
Does that include everyone?
Everyone present at the time.
Or just those who suffered through,
What had been imagined.