[14. STANDPOINT-EPISTEMOLOGICAL]

... the word is “sincerity”

But mine is mine.

To mine, to meld.

To mint if I mean to.

To misuse, misprize.

It’s not meant for you.

I don’t mean for you.

Who said sincerity

Was just meaning it?

What’s just about it?

I don’t know but I know

You don’t get it.

You don’t get to get it.

I mean and don’t.

I mean and won’t

If you make

Something of it;

If you take

Something from it.

It is not yours

To do with what

You always do:

Take and turn it.

Make (your) terms with it—

Make trophy out of it.

(Trophy, from trepho:

Meaning to turn,

Meaning here is where

The enemy turned,

And all they abandon

Is yours to take.)

So much, so many things.

It is not a single thing.

Everything my mouth says—

And how—I mean it all.

Or I mean something

By it all.

Or I mean to, anyway.

Sometimes straight,

Other times sideways.

My heart, for me

To heave—and how!—

Into my own damn mouth.

Notes:

This poem is from a longer series called 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem.

Source: Poetry (March 2023)