Don’t Kill Your Darlings

I recall being
close to
you very
but I think
no now,
I can be far away,
unfortunately.
Our quarrel, though recent,
now seems a whim.
Truth can be insignificant.
I believe that one should be
selective, that many many things
need not be explored or even murmured.
The truth can be vile/ unseemly/ unwelcome — thank you.
It’s simple (We give it complexity.)
The more you love someone the less they deserve
that curative ritual, a cold, untender honesty,
a fucking poisoned arrow better aimed at the weasels
of the world
than toward the dear ones.

Allison Whittenberg has been published widely, in Redivider, New Orleans Review, Columbia Review, Feminist Studies, and elsewhere. She is a ten-time Pushcart nominee. Her collection of poems is They Were Horrible Cooks (2024).Killing the Father of Our Country is her latest novel. Her plays have been performed at Interact Theatre, Downtown Urban Arts Fest, Hedgerow Theatre and others.