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Show or Tell

Show or Tell

As a rule, it's best to show not tell.
But I don’t paint with air and light,
It’s not my medium,
Nor does it play to any strength.

I want to hammer one word at a time,
Pound the truth in every different way,
Like weighted splinters cleaved from acrid smoke.
And when it’s over, and the sharp and heavy
Lay on you like the bricks of life and death,
I want you to see the grain of each rock,
And the age and the violence it came from.

So no.
I don’t want to show you puppies abused by the mill
Or the horror of children at play with sticks.
I want you slowly buried neck deep in sand,
Knowing in your heart the tables of the tide.

Mike Brady 2010
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