Hear tell no Lie and hear direct—
Defeat in Straightness stands
Too dark for our robust Despair
The Lie’s grotesque demands
As Darkness to the Elders teased
With obfuscation mean
The Lie must uncloud suddenly
So every beast be seen—
***
Today’s prompt from NaPoWriMo: Find a shortish poem that you like, and rewrite each line, replacing each word (or as many words as you can) with words that mean the opposite. For example, you might turn “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” to “I won’t contrast you with a winter’s night.”
I was pretty happy with how well this turned out. And of course, here’s the original from Emily Dickinson.
Tell All the Truth But Tell It Slant
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightening to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind—
***
It’s been a pleasure, all. Thanks for prompting, playing, and reading along. Happy NaPoWriMo!!
***
And I’m linking up at dVerse for the first time. Have been lurking for a while and decided it’s time to participate. 🙂 Go check it out for lots of great poetry.
Karin S. Wiberg 
this is an interesting exercise and i think it makes you read the original poem different as well…well played..
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Thank you. I don’t think I could have done it if I hadn’t taken Cousera’s ModPo class last fall, where the first thing we read was Dickinson.
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Emily Dickinson is one of my favorites. This turned out great congrats on completing NaPoWriMo.
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Thank you. I have been really learning to appreciate Emily as well. Can’t believe it has taken me this long! 🙂
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Your preserves the rhyme and everything — and actually functions as its own poem. I’m impressed!
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Thanks! I probably spent way too much time looking up possible synonyms and antonyms!! 🙂 But it was fun!!!
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Excellent poem! It really does stand well on its own, as Marilyn noted. Well done — on this, and the whole month.
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Thanks, Wendy! I appreciate the ongoing support!
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I loved what you did with this–so well done!
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Thanks, Audrey. I really enjoyed the “puzzle” of this exercise.
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I’ve enjoyed your work and will continue to check in. Thanks for following me.
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Thanks, Russell! My pleasure!
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I especially like ” the lie must uncloud suddenly.”
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Thank you! That was a challenging line!
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Lies do make grotesque demands! A tough exercise but you pulled it off!
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Thanks! I think Emily was a good choice–abstract enough to find interesting antonyms. 🙂
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what an intriguing exercise…ha…i like the truths superb surprise…smiles. welcome to dverse….you can tell you did not just replace but used craft as well…
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Thanks. I have to admit, it was a challenge to manage the rhymes.
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nice – what a vocabulary work out – solid and skilled writing
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Thank you! Wish I could take credit for the original!!!
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What an interesting exercise ~ I like how you responded to the challenge ~
Nice to read the original poem as well ~ Welcome to D’verse ~
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Thanks, Grace! Happy to join you!!
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First, this has an incredibly dickinsonian feel. So interesting and well-cadenced. Then, congrats on April poetry and welcome to dverse! K.
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Thanks on all three counts!!
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