Storytelling
By C. T. Holte
July 15, 2023
July 15, 2023
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If I told you a real tale
and told it as true, would it be better or truer than a tale told with no attest, or perhaps told as-if? Does the real of color or size make a difference– whether the bird on the branch above my garish-neon-green kayak is too small for the music bursting from her beak, or is too drab for the color of her song? This could raise questions also about the blue of the lake, the blue of the sky, the blue of the sky reflected on the wrinkled skin of the breeze-blessed, wind-ruffled lake. Whatever your opinion, know that I could make up stories– long, sweet, colorful stories– about all of these things: birds, lake, sky, clouds, kayaks; and whatever I said would be true, whether or not real, because that is the nature of this place. |
C. T. Holte grew up in Minnesota without color TV; played along creeks and in cornfields; went to lots of school; and has had gigs as teacher, trainer, editor, and some less wordy things. He recently migrated from California to New Mexico with his beautiful partner, and got a cool electric chainsaw for Christmas. His poetry has been published in Words, California Quarterly, Months to Years, Pensive, The Daily Drunk, Mediterranean Poetry, and elsewhere, and has been hung from trees to celebrate the Rio Grande Bosque.