How Things Really Went Poem by RIC BASTASA

when he turned pale and fainted
he blamed it on his dieting
he said he did not eat breakfast
that morning

when his eyes turned red at noon
he said he got sore eyes
and blamed the knob of the
door for the infection

and on the night when he locked
his room he said he wanted to
sleep early as he lacked sleep
writing his poems

he drank poison a la socrates
and when he died
the froth on his mouth looked like
the bloom of a
while million flower

he did not tell the truth
that his wife left him with another man