Finding a Perspective to See and Tell the Truth

Tell the truth but tell it slant

It’s been so, so good to find Substack as a place where we can “talk”—where folks feel more comfortable dialoguing with me and with one another. I so enjoy this. It’s actually a joy for me. More and more, I get text, emails and comments from readers who say something like this:  “Your writing is so different…so unique…so much better than you use to write.”  I love that kind of comment because I believe, it is true for many reasons that I want to explore here, with you. 

That kind of feedback, for me, is a wonderful, life giving compliment and I take it to be that way.  I’m trying to be real. I’m trying to be authentic. I’m attempting to be courageously honest in these Substack posts about how I see myself  and see the world about me.

Here on Substack, I’m writing poems. That’s my latest creative outlet. I want to tell you why.

Poetry invites me to step back and view the world from a different perspective; a different dimension.  Through the words of a poem, I am able to see more than a horizontal perspective but also one of a vertical transcendence. I am able to see both inward and outward—into the real me and hopefully into the real you. The words of a poem offer me space to view the truth and to view myself from several angles and perspectives.

Look at this image above that I am using here showing Jesus, the huge statue of Jesus and one person standing on his arm. It’s the allure of the image that invites me to stop and just stare at this for a few moments. It shows perspective. It shows nuance. It is fascinating. It’s an image that shows the perspective. I used this image because of the perspective poetry offers us.

I’ve been blessed in writing over a dozen books through the years but it wasn’t until I started writing poems, that I felt a shift happen in me. It has been a seismic shift. This shift is compelling me to say less. These days, I want to say more in less words and poetry is my way of trying to do this.

Poetry is inviting me to come through the backdoor of the human heart rather than through the expected and more traveled front door.

For me, the power of nuance can say more than the force of words spoken in a straightforward and linear way. Nuance invites imagination.  Does the poet mean this or that?  What is being said here? Is this for now or for all times? When there is nuance, there are multiple layers that offer possibilities for meaning and interpretation.

My son, who is 36 and I were recently having a conversation about our own relationship. Some clarification was needed. We met over lunch to talk and it was in this conversation that it hit me that I did not want to be taken so literally on the things we were talking about. He asked me to clarify some formational messages he had taken to heart from his own childhood—things he had remember me telling him.  Some of those things he remembered were said out of love but some where not. I was glad and so was he, that we courageously took the time to talk this through—we both wanted to clarify some narratives that we might have gotten wrong.  But, in his hearing me say these things years ago or perhaps even recently as well, he was remembering the literal, verbatim quote that I had in fact said to him. As I heard him recite some messages I had said to him, I realized, ‘oh, me… I didn’t mean it that way…I meant it this way.’ 

It was after hearing him recite back to me the narrative of how I fathered him and some embedded messages that had pierced his heart, that I felt backed into a corner with him. I needed to respond to what I was hearing. I took a deep breath and I said, “Don’t take me so literally. I speak in nuance. I probably was speaking in nuance then but didn't yet know the word “nuance”.  But, can you try to not take me so literally? Can you give me space to try to tell you some things but they simply will not be in black or white—unless I tell you that ‘Now, I am speaking in black and white term and there is no grey in what I am saying.” It was a moment of clarity for me. It may have been a moment for him as well. What became clear is what I want to tell you here.

The word, “nuance” means:

1.      a subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.

2.     a very slight difference or variation in color or tone.

One of the issues of our current times is the literal meaning of this question: What is the real news? What is believable? What can we trust? And more importantly, who can we trust to tell us the truth? But poetry is now news. It is more than news.

Here’s the truth: not everyone speaks in nuance. Not everyone speaks in a straight-forward and literal, linear way. Our invitation here is to both hear the message but also to discern how to “take” what is being said.

But poetry is not news.  Poetry is what Emily Dickinson said when she wrote:

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind —

Poetry is the telling of truth but telling it slant—telling the truth in such a way that there are shades, variations and tones of meaning.

I like what I just said. I like what Emily said.  “The truth must dazzle gradually.” I think what she means is that truth has a way of gradually sinking into our hearts.  I’ve heard it said that “Too much truth is abusive.”  I agree. Perhaps, it takes time to gradually understand what is being said. Truth becomes abusive when so much truth comes out, so quick and so intense that one feels stripped, naked and knocked down, rather than build up and encouraged.

I know this is true of spiritual truth. I see things so, so differently now that I’m aging. My poems are trying to tell you this truth. I’m writing as a man almost 70 and many of my silos of understanding have crumbled and there is less rigidity and less certainty. Age is softening me, I suppose and my invitation is to allow my heart to soften, not harden as I continue to age. My writing feels softer. I hope my writing is kinder, too. But I also hope it is true.  But, perhaps, what I need to say is that I need to say things more in a slant kind of way. Why? Because I see reality, faith and dazzling truth more slant than straight.

When I read much of how Jesus spoke and taught, I see his masterful use of metaphor and parable.  Jesus used images familiar with his listeners but offered them truth through the backdoor of their minds. The truth would have been too much to hear—to much to receive so Jesus spoke in metaphor and stories to offer people a filter, a screen perhaps where there had to be a sifting out of what was really being said—what was really the truth.

For me, poetry is me speaking slant. I don’t want to be taken literally that I am totally “unmaking” my life.  In my poem I posted earlier, I was using the word “unmaking” in a nuance kind of way to invite you, the reader to find some possible layers of meaning for yourself—for myself, too.

Poems are my way of expressing the truth through nuance, shades of meaning to dazzle gradually my own heart, then perhaps yours. It’s the “yours” that I don’t know about. The poems I write and publish here are the latest experment I am attempting to just see if there’s any dazzle to what I want to say and how I am attempting to say it.

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A few important things:

1. I’m often asked where could one begin to read and understand poetry? I started with Roger Housden’s amazing collection of poems called, “Ten Poem….” I have been so impressed with Roger’s work that I interviewed him in a two part podcast

2. We are planning a Fall 2024 gathering—a retreat—a reunion of the Potter’s Inn Family in September here in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. Here’s the thing… we need to hear of your interest by March 15—so either register or write us and email telling us your intentions. If we can lock in enough folks, we’ll make it a go. Here’s the link for more information. Email me if you want to but can’t yet.

3. If you’re enjoying this Substack, please consider doing a Share and pass it on to those you think might enjoy it as well. I’d be so grateful.