Lies by Martha Collins

In the poem "Lies" by Martha Collins she uses a play on words. She uses the words lie and lay in many different ways. I had to read the poem many times before I got a sense of what she could be meaning. First I would like to examine what she means when she is using the word "lie". She uses it in a couple of different ways. First she uses it as an action, to lie, to not tell the truth. She questions what a lie really is, or what it means when someone lies. She also uses it as a form of laying down during intimate moments. The majority of her use of this word though I believe is focused on what lying is, and what it means to be dishonest. I think that she talks about omission as a form of lying or being dishonest. She questions it more than makes a statement about it. She is basically wondering if omission is a form of lying, or maybe is it more of a lie if you say something but you do not know for sure that you saw it. After reading this poem several times I was able to come to the conclusion that she is questioning what the best way to handle some situations are and in the end she knows that to say something, even if you think that you could be wrong, it is better to say it than to not say anything at all. I know this because of the last line in the poem where Collins writes, "if we must lie, let's not lie around.". I can honestly say that these poems, while they take more time to understand, really make me appreciate the English language and the ability to play on words.