Consilience — Summary

Dave BontaCheerful

her lies sing of wheat and honey and then all turd

a strange rude life there is among them

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The poem is about being lied to, and about how those lies change. At first, the woman's falsehoods sound lovely. "Wheat and honey" suggests nourishment, sweetness, and the promise of a good, abundant life. Then the poem drops sharply into "all turd," a blunt, crude word that undoes the pretty picture in an instant. The speaker seems to be saying that the lies only sounded sweet, and that underneath they were waste.

The second stanza steps back. "A strange rude life there is / among them" suggests a world full of such people, or perhaps a place where this kind of talk is normal. The speaker sounds weary and a little amazed rather than furious, as if observing an odd, impolite way of living.

The mood is dry, wry, and disillusioned. The short lines and the sudden shift in tone give the poem a sting, like a joke with a bitter edge. The title, "Consilience," usually means different kinds of evidence agreeing, which may add irony: the speaker has seen enough to conclude the lies all point the same way.

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