The Oracle, Retired

audio: The Oracle, Retired
audio of Amanda Jernigan's featured poetry, The Oracle, Retired

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Amanda Jernigan

The Oracle, Retired

 

      Truth-telling, I tell you
      (and once that would have been
      God’s truth, or mine,
      it was the same back
      then), is a young
      person’s game. Not
      that you lose the knack;
      you lose the taste:
      you come to find the whole
      cold hard caboodle
      an expense of spirit in a waste
      of shame. The ring
      becomes a rattle; you shy
      from firsts and lasts and fly
      to middles; and you lie
      awake at night
      worrying the riddles:
      truth-telling is a young
      person’s game.