Lily Tobias

This poem was written in response to the question, “How many lies have you told?”

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Sappho’s Liar

By Sarah Teresa Cook

                                                         I don’t know what to do				
			                                 two states of mind in me
                                            
                                                                ~Fragment 51, translated by Anne Carson




I know nothing of [inhibition]




can’t point at the sky without going there




maturity, or desire?




…a swath of skin trying to register its own caress…




	        	what I love most: [		] 




			           music




how the world upside down is still the world




every poem, every line, every turn of phrase…	 something new is blooming




desire, I think—[must?]—is never the problem




it’s funny to be a little…	dishonest sometimes




to pretend this and that are less cousined than they are




every oath, every ruin, every mask: unprecedented




each feeling a brand new one




how it shocks the room with temporary light

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Learn more about Sarah Teresa Cook.