Mixed Messages

Cézanne doesn’t paint what he sees.
His apples are orange.
Machiavelli doesn’t write what he
Believes to be true; The Prince
Was ironic, meant to expose & condemn
The powerful, not to encourage them.

I don’t always say what I mean
Or mean what I say, Machiavelli
Wrote to a friend.
All of my mixed messages are true.

We play house in our secrets.
I wash the lies in the sink
& hang them in the sun.