The Truth Fairy--Harry Calhoun

You extract the facts from me
slowly, painfully as we talk.
It’s not that I’m lying, but

I don’t always know the truth
until it’s yanked out for me to examine
its bloody roots. I slide it under my pillow

and sleep on it. The next morning
there’s a quarter beneath the pillowcase
and your sly smile saying,

“I told you so.”