Tell It Slant She Says
I must admit
I’d never heard
Of Emily before.
So when Marion my coach
Recited Emily’s slant
I wondered: “Whatever for?”
What did Emily mean
To “tell it slant
Success in circuit lies”?
Did she want me
To compose my prose
While lying on my behind?
How ludicrous
Infinitely ridiculous
It made no sense at all.
Like putting on shoes
Before slipping on jeans
I’m most certainly headed for a fall!
Yet I just couldn’t help
But to ponder and muse
Over those two cryptic lines.
Telling something slant
So that success will come
Sounds like a church bell’s chime.
Could it be that life
Needs to be viewed from angles
90, 180, 270, 360?
So that we can see
More than one possibility
And live truly, madly, deeply?
And as though those lines
Weren’t mysterious enough
Emily further boggled my mind.
Ending with “The truth must dazzle
Gradually, or
Every man be blind.”
Regardless, this ode
To Emily (and my coach)
Is one I’m honored to give.
Their mastery of craft
Inspires me daily to draft
And in so doing, live.
