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Keith Tornheim, a biochemistry professor at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, has six recent books, The Sacrifice of Isaac; I Am Lilith, Dancer on the Wind, Spirit Boat: Poems of Crossing Over, Can You Say Kaddish for the Living?, Fireflies, Spoiled Fruit: Adam, and Eve in Eden and Beyond. His poems have appeared in Ibbetson Street, The Somerville Times, Boston Literary Magazine, Muddy River Poetry Review and Poetica.

Truth and Poetry

Keith Tornheim

Poetry is not the icing on the cake,
it is the cake,
with icing.
It is the whole truth
and the half truth of imagination,
so one and a half times the truth.
It is the truth of the mind
and the truth of the heart
and the truth of the soul;
each of these is only half the truth.
Poetry is true
even when it lies,
if it is true to itself
and you feel it.
It is the whole truth
and nothing but the truth,
except for the part
you don’t understand
with your mind
or your heart
or your soul.
But that part may be true, too,
for someone else.

— Keith Tornheim

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