June Lost Poem

Finding the Lies

A man who has recently discovered that his wife had been having an affair, packs up the last of her belongings into a single cardboard box. As he stares at the ruins on his marriage he muses and reflects on the time they shared together and the betrayal that has turned him into a bitter, lonely soul. At the end of the poem he warns the man she left him for to be wary of her love and prepare to be hurt.

This poem is my second villanelle written on the topic of being left by someone you love. However, in Finding the Lies I thought it would be interesting to explore this similar subject from a man’s perspective. The rhyme scheme of this poem is aba until this last stanza, in which it is abaa and it is written to a relatively strict rhyme. I chose this poem from June because I wanted to explore the darker side of the this frivolous month as I find that the summer is often deemed “innocent” when there can still be horror and shame found in the lightest place. The irony of this poem is that, although it is entitled Finding the Lies this is one of my “lost poems” because its greater theme is losing with someone who has betrayed you in the most painful way (this is also how it fits into my calendar theme).

This poem includes poetic devices such as metaphors, personification, alliteration, hyperboles, and, obviously, repetition.

A cardboard box, full of what I despise,

Mocks me as I continue to stare.

I lost her love by finding her lies.

Now I’m bitter, though now I’m wise,

With a frozen heart, a distaste for care,

And a cardboard box, full of what I despise.

We shared our smiles and shared our sighs,

When fidelity and faith were values we shared.

I lost her love by finding her lies.

When in foolish love, ah, how time flies.

And all that remains are the memories there,

In the cardboard box, full of what I despise.

We parted without the need for goodbyes,

No mention made of the shameful affair.

I lost her love by finding her lies.

To her next ‘true love’, I do advise,

You’ll find nothing with her but pain, despair,

And a cardboard box, full of what you despise.

You’ll lose her love, when you find her lies.

                                                -    Rachel Harrison