do you remember the game
where you whispered
a phrase to your friend
who repeated it
on and on to the end
of the line where you
found the original words
had been obliterated?

narratives seem to go
much the same way
from the truth of events
into this malleable clay
in which the actual facts
become so shifted as
the audiences change
to the point where truth
is a variable somewhat buried

it becomes a story told
so often in new renditions
what really occured becomes
merely incidental to
this carefully orchestrated
production where somehow
the villain demands sympathy
and the true victims are
villified for a better ending

artful deceptions woven
by spiders seeking new prey
shifted perspectives where
even monsters demand deification
whispering nonsensical words
to shift the narrative
special effects make the
tears seem almost genuine
at least real enough to hide
the trap hidden in the trash