Say what you wish, display your skill:
the supple stretch, the artful bend
of incidents which flood or spill
to some desired immediate end.
Uncork the adverbs, the telling detail,
the partial view of the unsaid.
A word or two, and tears, welling
(your listeners will supply the necessary red).
You know already the harm done
when matchlight magnifies to sun
or sun pales down to blot and singe,
a decade vanished in a weekend binge.
A half-lie is the sweetener of dread,
as one provides the bullet, another aims the gun.