What Uncle Billy Said

To understand anything actually true,
my uncle said, manhattan to his lips.
you have to look at this world crooked.
Car crash and the windshield's broke.

Drowning in big surf. Blind in fog or
rain on the road beyond wiper capactiy.
When tears take over from a sad movie.
As if everything's here to get in the way.

When you see something, but hardly,
so you're sure it's not the whole thing,
and all words fail to describe it,
that's the truth. You see it crooked,

tell it crooked, hear it crooked.
When it's straight and clear and simple
and easy to grasp as a hammer or rock,
that's the lies that have built up over eons,

or a new liar reaching for your wallet,
maybe, or just a guy trying to get attention.
"Uncle Billy, where'd you learn all that?"
"On a jungle floor, blood in my eyes.

"Not my blood."