Skin Lies

Jane Yolen

“My skin lies.”—Joan Lennon

 

You think you know me by my skin,

but it’s a coat I don each day,

a fabrication, cover-up,

do not trust it any more

than you trust my clothes

to tell you the truth.

 

You think you know me by my smile,

but it’s a mask I put on at will.

a mummery,  camouflage,

do not trust it any more

than the fawn’s spots

to tell tell you the truth.

 

You think you know me by my tales,

but they change every single day,

 a fiction, fabrication,

do not trust them any more

than the liar’s brag

to tell you the truth.

 

You think you know me by my poems.

Perhaps, perhaps you do

if you read between the lines,

under the skin, past the smile,

beyond the tale, beneath the lie

where truth sits alone under the Bo

 

waiting to be found.

 

***

Jane Yolen’s 380th published book is about to come out. She sends out poems to journals on a regular basis and has quite a few in sf/fantasy magazines as well. She is a Grand Master of SFPA (Science Fiction/Fantasy Poets of America), as well as a Grandmaster of SFWA and World Fantasy Assn. She has won the Nebula two times, Mythopoeic Award three times, and been nominated (but never won) for the Hugo several times. Six colleges & universities have given her honorary doctorates for her body of work.