MAKING SENSE SENTENCES

I recently read one of Tony Hoagland’s (1953-2018) books of poetry. I extracted a few of my favorites lines from his poem ‘Real Estate.’

“I don’t trust people who overuse the word extraordinary.
Nor those who tell you how much they adore everything,
as in, “I adore Susan Sarandon” or, “this apple pie” or,
“the way you wear your hair.”

I get lost inside of the exaggerations.
The tree will topple under all those promises.
The branch will break from all that heavy fruit.

My heroes are the ones who don’t say much.
They don’t hug people they just met.
They use plain language even when they listen.
They stand back and let you see it for yourself.

If you want to see a lost civilization,
why not just look in the mirror?
If you want to talk about love, why not begin
with those marigolds you forgot to water?”

These sentences make sense to me.

“And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Jesus