"The Lie" 

                             

                                Anne Waldman in her poem “The Lie” illustrates that everything in this world is illusion and nothing is what we think of them and how they are. Even Art, you can make it what you want it to be in your own eyes but other people might see it differently and have different views, so Anne tells us that it can be lie, because Art is just an illusion and not real. People can disregard lies in larger ideas for their own sake like the messages Art sends about people having different views on one thing. Anne starts her poem saying “//Art begins with a lie/ The separation is you plus me plus what we make/ Look into light bulb, blink, sun’s in your eye// I want a rare sky/ Vantage point free from misconception/ Art begins with a lie//.” In these lines she talks about people not having same thoughts on something as people see things differently and she wants a world free of misjudgment where people won’t have difficulties and different vision on things unlike Art which is just an illusion and not real that’s why Anne calls it lie. She also says “//How to fuel the world, then die/ Distance yourself from artfulness/ How? Art begins with a lie//”. In these lines she talks about people going against each other since they don’t have same thoughts on things and one want only their views and thoughts to be heard and accepted, so they fight each other. “The Lie” tells us way of getting the point of something without even saying it and depending on the good or the bad of the issue, art can be a good way to show the meaning that will be interpreted differently by everyone. “Her…poems are marred with flat writing and sophomoric conclusions about life, love, and art;”. Anne in her poems mainly focuses on life, love, and art as these lines proves that from biography of her by Alicia Ostriker and “The Lie” is a fine example.