I'm only here to present the facts

I don't know why but every time I read an article or book that is prefaced by the idea that the author is only trying to provide the facts I find myself immediately looking for their basis argument. It usually isn't hard to find, because they are too busy writing about the "facts". It is a silly argument to make (that you aren't expressing an opinion, but are just writing facts) because if you are writing on the topic chances are that you are invested in the topic, and that you in fact (ha!) do have an opinion. The two things I recently saw this argument for just made me laugh. The first was a book that claimed it took the liberalism out of history and made it a fair judgement of history. It sounded interesting, but didn't even come close to being a fair representation of the "facts". The second was an article about vegetarianism. I personally don't have anything against vegetarians, if you only want to eat vegetables go for it, but when you start telling me that you have all the answers and that my way of life is wrong, then I am a little peeved. This article pretty much went in that direction, but of course it was only presenting the facts so it is crazy that an argument was put forward, but I digress.
I'd like to believe that I have seen something that has just presented the facts but I can't think of one off the top of my head (or the bottom). It isn't that they don't exist, it is just that they don't tend to be very interesting because once you start including analysis in the writing it starts developing a basis - and is no longer just the facts. So present the very boring poem, The Facts.


The Facts


First off
this is a poem.
Secondly it is written in
free verse,
that is it has no rhyme
and no rigid structure.
This poem is treads on safe ground,
staying away from the cracks in the ice.

The fear of this poem,
however,
is that it will present an untruth,
and that you will no longer be able
to trust said poem.
If you can't trust a poem who can you trust?

Can you trust anything beyond the facts?
The bare bones that tell you
that the walls are white
and that the little black spots
are ants crawling through
that massive unused space.

I won't tell you about those ants,
because I don't know.
I could say they are probably going for
the brownie crumbs on my desk,
but I don't know,
so I can't tell you that.
Nothing that might be an untruth.

Finally I have to tell you that
everything above is not true.
There is are no ants on my wall
(which I am glad)
and this is not a poem that is scared of
lying to you,
it is only scared of you believing it.


So I'm not a big fan of that poem, even while writing it. I never knew where it was going. I think with revision I might be able to find some direction to it, but it is definitely going to need some work.

Copyright 2008 William Curb