Farther From the Truth

(Photo by Dan Felstead of Wood and Pixel Narratives)

FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH

Nothing more than a scarred piece of wood you say,
nonsense, nothing could be farther from the truth.
A damaged piece of useless lumber you say,
nonsense, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Don't you see it? Look beyond the scratches, cuts and nicks;
"JB" - JB was someone, not just a nothing in the wood.
Permanently itched and preserved for all time,
JB could have been Jenny Buchanan,
the pretty little girl from down the lawn;
braided brown hair with a gap in her front teeth,
she was never without her jump rope and a Kool-Aide smile.
Or may it is Joe Bob, the farmer boy from Possie Holler,
with freckles on his pale white face and hair of fiery red;
always willing to help a farmer in need with hoeing or plowing and such.
It could have been the beginning of star crossed lovers,
Justina Bell loves ... interrupted, unfinished, unknown.
Nonsense my friends, this is not just nothing,
though Generation X may think so'
it's not a Facebook icon or a Twittered tweet,
just immortality carved in wood,
an old-fashioned social network that has gone the way
of written letters and long phone conversations lasting deep into the night.