Does being a writer of any kind require full disclosure?  My idea of a poet is not only one who sees the world in a unique way, but one who tells the truth about what she sees.  and experiences.  Is a poet transparent? or are just her poems?  Is it a symbiotic relationship? Can one exist without the other?

I recently wrote a poem where I told about hitting a man — and how he hit me back.  I asked the reader if they believed that the incident was true (or maybe I was asking if they believed I hadn’ t hit anyone since).  In the poem I asked if the details made the description of the incident more credible.  My writer’s group reviewed the poem and one person had a response to a line that I hadn’t expected.  I included the line, “I don’t remember why, though.”  One reviewer thought the incident couldn’t possibly be true because of this line.  His logic was that if you remember all the details of hitting someone, you would remember why.  Shows what he knows.

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