This week on Next Line, Please, we take up the false confession. Think murder mysteries, The Wire, Law and Order. How many times has someone taken the blame to cover up for someone else? What are their motives? Out of love? Out of fear?
As Dr. Lehman points out, "The false confession points to a logical problem inherent in language. There is nothing to assure us that any statement, even a confession of wrongdoing, is truthful, sincere, and accurate."
How can we manipulate this problem to our benefit, in poetry? The readers of Next Line, Please await your reply. Write 15 lines or less (or a prose paragraph) in which you take responsibility (or credit) for having done something despicable, nasty, improper, unexpected, or unusual.
Visit the American Scholar's page to enter your candidate! Deadline is Saturday, October 20, midnight any time zone.
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