Saturday Poem

Djinn

Haunted, they say, believing
the soft, shifty
dunes are made up
of false promises.

Many believe  
whatever happens  
is the other half
of a conversation.

Many whisper
white lies
to the dead.

“The boys are doing really well.”

Some think
nothing is so
until it has been witnessed.

They believe
the bits are iffy;

the forces that bind them,
absolute.
.
.

by Rae Armantrout
from Poetry, Vol. 192, No. 3
publisher: Poetry, Chicago, 2008