'If' Truth Mattered Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

'IF' truth mattered,
Conflicts to pick would not exist.
Nor would divisions splitting quickly,
Biased by racial differences...
Focused upon to offend.
'IF' truth mattered.

'IF truth mattered,
Lies to tell would not be told.
To sell and buy to have them sold.
'IF' truth mattered.

'IF' truth mattered,
Gossip heard with rumors to spread...
Would not be a thought to keep in one's head.
With facts squeezed from the truth until it's dead.
'IF' truth mattered.

And 'IF' truth mattered,
More people would seek truth to live.
With a pursuing it in their lives.
Without expressing a negativity,
To address this until all positivity dies.
'IF' truth mattered in all living life,
Delusions to protect would be despised.

'IF' truth did matter,
Very few would be left to question it.
Very few would question the reason why,
Anyone would tell lies to deny them told.
'IF' truth mattered to be what it is to accept,
There would be more of it shown to have it known...
That a truth to have to feel with it lived for real,
Should not be a request to suggest.
Or solicited to demand in organized street protests.

Yet too many are refusing its presence to reject it.
On a daily basis truth is ignored.
Neglected to disrespect.
Nor is it debated anymore.
Too many still await for their invitations,
To participate in all kinds of unrest.
Mental. Social. And civil.
As if adopted to become the 'new' etiquette.
Until no one is left on a quest for peace to get.

And here we are!
Whipped up into a craze.
Running towards and not away from madness.
Prioritizing everything else in our lives,
To list as a preference with an interest invested.
But truth?
Truth has yet to matter.
To reach and achieve to stay among the top ten.

'Another innocent child has been shot.
After doing homework and leaving the library.
Of all places.
Thank God he didn't die.
Another kid confessed and said,
*Yeah, I shot him.
My mama told me people like that always think,
They are better than the rest of us.*
And his mother said nothing,
When she found out about it.
But had the 'nerve' to stand defiant.
With her arms folded and head tilted to one side,
As the cameras filmed her unconcern.'

~Remember those shoes I wore to church last week?
You wont believe this.
But yesterday...YES-STIR-DAY...
I saw those exact 'same' shoes on sale.
I'm gonna return them. Thank God I saved the receipt.~