If truth is beauty than we are beginning to live in a very ugly world. This poem was inspired by one politician making many false accusations only to be fact checked later. When he was, he claimed he’d misremembered the facts. Call me a cynic but I’d say he was lying to begin with. Politicians lying, nothing new there. But he got away with it by making the claim of misremembered facts. For me it sums up something this particulary dirty and disgracegul election campaign has highlighted more thoroughly than ever.
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Seeing the exuse of misremembered facts makes me very sad. If our truth is to be derived from beauty then we may as well be magpies..
Do you remember
Where you were
When first they loosed
The misremembered truth?
When the news media
Began inventing what we knew
And the dignity of truth
Became so easily abused
Do you remember
The false statements
Fake proofs
Trust swapped for the golden goose
Did your heart sink
As impartial bias
Finally left the shadows
In dark triumph
In a post truth world
I turn pale
At the thought of what old horrors
Charge forth from a justice silenced
I pray it is not too late
To close the gate
Before hungry greed
Unchecked is again free to feed
I hope
I cast my vote
Holding on to the shadow
Of objectivity's afterglow
Do you remember
When they misremembered truthes?
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About Dave James Horn
Based in Folkestone, Dave James Horn writes poetry to raise a smile and provoke a thought. He is part of Poet’s Corner Folkestone and an organiser of the Folkestone Language Exchange. Read his full bio here.