chagall backdrop

They just keep pressing for info,
want to know the strange sort
of things.

I make real sure to conceal my tell,
divert my stress to the soles of my feet,
let the lies dissolve there
rather than on the lines
of my face.

And I know how to win
the game of the eyes,
when to show whites
when not to,
to refrain from shifty
random glance, the essence
of prevarication.

Lie detectors can’t grab me,
’cause I’m two, sometimes three
steps removed from the question they think
they ask; when I answer I’m always
dead on the truth, it always depends
on what I believe I’m saying.

I’m the master of double-talk,
the double negative,
and non-denial denial.

I am mostly
beside myself
taking my own name
in vain,

underwhelmed,
undernourished,
under-valued,

under a bad sign,
under the gun,
under their thumb,

under the boardwalk,
under the weather,
under estimated,

under the table,
under budget,
an underdog.

My single solace and joy
is to be atop you

© Carlos Chagall, 2013