Is Fiction True?

by Suzanne Lee

The Truth

“Is this a true story?”
asked the form.
“Is it about someone you know?”
“Is it about you?”

Yes, I replied. No. It is fiction,
and so, complete invention,
and also, seamless truth.

A million of us, nameless,
have lived its myriad parts,
fought, loved, wept,
laughed, hoped, hurt,
gone on when breath was pain,
done the unthinkable,
lost heart, starved, sung,
prayed, gave up at times,
clawed our way back.

Some of these I knew
in passing, glimpsed briefly,
heard of, read about, yet
each fragment fused fast
without my hand and help,
coalesced into story.

Fiction is not
biography, does not
recount flat facts
or imitate life
or lives, goes deeper, probes,
creates worlds recognized
at once, persons truer
than the man you saw
on the subway, sweating,
droplets coursing, eyes
watching for–? Yes,
truer than his fear,
truer than that,
truer than this morning’s
sunrise.

Fabrication?
Uncounterfeited truth.

What was the question?

Suzanne Lee is a historian and writer. Her prize-winning poetry has appeared in various journals including Snowy Egret, Sow’s Ear, and Colorado Life, and in the volumes  Rise! and Weaving the Terrain. Her poem “Walking Woman” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She has published extensively in nonfiction.