The Truth Board

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The Truth About the Fact: An International Journal of Literary Nonfiction

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The Truth About the Fact: A Journal of Literary Nonfiction is an international journal committed to the idea that excellence in the art of letters can play a vital role in transforming the planet we share.

Monday, April 25, 2011

The cost of a burning monk


Yes, ma’am, you’ve got it right:
he is in fact burning.
No it’s not a stunt. There’s no flame
absorption on his skin.
His body is on fire, shedding
a fresh layer every second.
The flames have swallowed half of him
at this point. He’s turning into ash.
Yes, ma’am
he is, in fact, burning.

Well, yes, by the look on his
face I could see why you might question it.
But it’s actually not a stunt.
Yes, ma’am, I’m sure.
He is calm because, well,
at this point he is gone.
No, not dead. Not yet.
But he’s far away; the flames don’t
exist where he is. He’s…
just far away.

Okay, that’s natural ma’am,
I can’t ask you to understand a monk in flames.
What’s a monk, you ask?
Well ma’am I…
Oh, well they’re not helping him because
they can’t and he doesn’t want them to.
They’re all in the same flames, you see.
Okay, sure, I won’t bother.

Oh wow, your husband is a stunt man?
Oh, for Father’s Day?
Well okay… No I don’t think we have
any larger frames for it
but I can check in the back.
No problem, ma’am.

Mallory Massie

3 Comments:

Blogger Editorial Staff said...

Wow, I am hurt that people you do such a hate crime. I am pleased that you brought this topic to light because hate is still in the world. Good poem.

-Yenitza Munoz

April 26, 2011 at 3:08 PM  
Blogger Editorial Staff said...

beautiful set-up of the poems structure. the will power necessary for immolation is mind boggling, but how others can so completely miss the point of the demonstration goes beyond

--Weston Finfer

April 28, 2011 at 5:14 AM  
Blogger Editorial Staff said...

i like this a lot. you have a great sense of rhythm and the conversational tone makes your investigation very powerful. trying to get someone to understand something so inhuman, especially when you might not understand it yourself, is a real struggle.

April 28, 2011 at 12:48 PM  

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