The Lies We Believe

by Belinda Munoz on March 23, 2011

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Lies, at times, have a way of posing like truths

dressed up like a Bergdorf Goodman mannequin
with fiberglass eyes shadowed to perfection
plump pantone lips poised for a pucker or a half-smile

and a silk-spun skirt cinched around an 18-inch waist
hissing echo-less whispers ’round
legs long as Alaska’s summer days

making the girls fall in a trance of fat-free dreams
that suck the flavor out of their thin-soup existence

seducing desirous boys whose already limp judgment
short circuits in thickened waves of fevered temperature.

Even the consummate liar among us falls for the lies
of six-packed bellies that belie birth
deceptive renderings of chimera
faking true that we’re not
worth the time
worth hearing
worth seeing
worth loving
just the way we are;
that we need more, more, more, more, more…
that having
each other
won’t
and
can’t
save
us.

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for #OneShotWednesday

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Mannequin shot by fontplaydotcom

{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Olivia March 23, 2011 at 2:04 am

Belinda, if I say I loved this, that would be an understatement!!
Although words is all I have to say so here :)

Realistic, true and written so poignantly..
Hugs xxxx

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2 tolbert March 23, 2011 at 2:06 am

faking true that we’re not
worth the time
worth hearing
worth seeing
worth loving
just the way we are

you have penned a masterpiece that should be required reading for those young girls who seek to spin from their adolescence like a butterfly struggling from its cocoon. The
corporate world shapes young lives into older lives who are precisely what you write about, a caricature of the real self. Are you too fat, too short, too ugly? It can be fixed and a ‘new you’ can emerge…the lies of advertising are repulsive. Interestingly I wrote about the same topic this week…the melting away of wax people who look beautiful until the heat reveals their true self.

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3 Kate March 23, 2011 at 2:47 am

I don’t know what else to say except brilliant! Really touched me, thank-you.

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4 ayala March 23, 2011 at 5:20 am

Love this. Acceptance is what all girls/ women need and deserve and yet the lies will tell us different.

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5 brian March 23, 2011 at 5:35 am

strong piece…love this…i think in general we try to believe what people say,unfortuantely there are those who take advantage of that

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6 TheKitchenWitch March 23, 2011 at 6:22 am

As a mother of daughters, this struck such a deep chord in my heart. Powerful stuff, there.

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7 w.k.kortas March 23, 2011 at 6:45 am

I might modify the first line–it’s a bit too straight-ahead for my taste–but that’s a minor complaint with a piece that is cleverly conceived and nicely executed.

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8 dustus March 23, 2011 at 6:59 am

Great details from mannequin feature to the effects on uncritically thinking youth.. A very strong piece. And I think it fitting that it literally and ultimately breaks down to “us.” Much truth in your poem.

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9 Mama Zen March 23, 2011 at 11:55 am

This is really powerful. I just love this.

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10 Sara Healy March 23, 2011 at 12:09 pm

Belinda — your poetry is getting better and better. This one just sends an arrow directly into the heart of our need for perfection.

As usual, I read it aloud and that always makes it a more powerful experience for me. These lines were my favorites, “making the girls fall in a trance of fat-free dreams/that suck the flavor out of their thin-soup existence.”

It’s sad to me that in the States, we let anorexic models be the role models for our young women. I like to see a fashion show with regular women of all different shapes and sizes parading their body beautiful down a runway.

I beg you to share more of your enlightened poetry. I’m getting addicted to reading it, but in a good way:~)

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11 Aileen March 23, 2011 at 3:41 pm

This poetic statement is a much needed TRUTH! It’s phenomenal how quiet untruths (lies) begin to enter our psyche and become thoughts & beliefs that live in the shadows of our mind and effect us deeply.

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12 Talon March 23, 2011 at 4:52 pm

“making the girls fall in a trance of fat-free dreams
that suck the flavor out of their thin-soup existence” – perfection in those lines, Belinda and perfect imagery!

It’s so true what you say – no matter how clever we are and how much we delve for the truth in advertising, it’s a very shallow pool. And the belief system that is adopted – that more is better, is always painful to behold. Filling the insatiable void with things…very sad.

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13 Fr. Michael March 23, 2011 at 7:13 pm

This is great! I may pass this along to some of the girls at the high school where I’m chaplain. It’s so easy for them to buy into the lies that our culture is feeding them: that physical appearance is more important than the heart.

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14 Lisa March 23, 2011 at 8:36 pm

absolutely loved your post. Hope I inspired your post.

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15 Kavita March 24, 2011 at 2:56 am

Oh…so true.. Ack!! “true” seems like a real tease here, considering you have written about lies.. But well, what you have written is really very true.. sometimes, the “great” liars too get caught in a web of lies.. (woven by themselves or even by others).. we live in one LIE-filled world…don’t we?!

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16 Rudri Bhatt Patel @ Being Rudri March 24, 2011 at 5:40 am

This hit me in the gut Belinda. Well done.

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17 G-Man March 24, 2011 at 6:32 am

Belinda…
This one should be published other than on a blog post!
Terriffic poetry My Friend……G

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18 Marci | Liberating Choices March 24, 2011 at 11:35 am

Love the rhythmic emotion and the truth seeping out of this post. We are enough :)

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19 Shashi March 24, 2011 at 8:15 pm

This is beautiful… your words…
’seducing desirous boys whose already limp judgment
short circuits in thickened waves of fevered temperature.’
… perfect… I enjoyed it very much. Thanks for sharing…

ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/03/whispers-seed-and-senseless-living.html
At Twitter @VerseEveryDay

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20 Tess The Bold Life March 25, 2011 at 8:42 am

OMG Belinda! When you put your poems in a book I’ll buy a copy. I’ll rip out every page and frame them for my office! xoox

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21 dani h March 28, 2011 at 12:13 am

such a powerful piece ~ it’s painful to read because it’s so sad and so true. so well written!

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