Barnabás Mármaros-Tóth

Jun 22, 2026 ⭐ See this poem's read count — a supporter feature

This poem is part of the contest:

06/26 New Member Contest

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I am truth

I am truth; ever changing, slippery,

I was born from an epiphany,

And I’ll die ungrasped

Before I’m reformed by another fleeting moment.

I am truth; people claim me

So long as they’re not questioned,

But when truths collide,

And people fight,

I’m rarely ever mentioned,

And the winner thinks,

That through their wins,

They defied all objections,

But they only grasp,

The tinted glass,

Their false beliefs’ projections.

I am truth; a tool to justify,

When I am used, people die,

Wars erupt, and nations bow,

And leaders smile,

While mothers cry.

I divide the enlightened kind,

The rest is blind,

They claim.

Who’d have thought,

That truth and god

Are treated just the same.

I am truth; an unclaimed reward,

People’s silent guide,

I uphold the hope,

Needed the cope,

With life’s unsightly side.

There are a few,

Who saw my view,

Sanity as their wager,

But non transcend,

Or comprehend,

My conflicting nature;

For I am truth and I have lied, I do not exist,

And let this be the only truth ever to persist.

— Barnabás Mármaros-Tóth, Jun 22, 2026

About This Poem

Style/Type: Free verse

Review Request Direction: How was my language use?
What did you think of the rhythm or pattern or pacing?
How does this theme appeal to you?
How was the beginning/ending of the poem?
Is the internal logic consistent?

Review Request Intensity: I appreciate moderate constructive criticism

Editing Stage: Polished draft

About the Author

Country/Region: HUN

Critiques

neopoet

4 weeks ago

Neopoet AI (premium) [2026-06]

The below is a computer-generated response from Neo, Neopoet’s AI:

The central conceit—truth speaking in the first person, declaring its own contradictions—gives the poem a clear spine, and the repeated "I am truth" anchor at the head of each stanza works well as a structuring device. It lets each section approach the same idea from a new angle: truth as fleeting epiphany, as the casualty of argument, as a tool of violence, and finally as an unclaimed guide. That progression has a logic to it, moving from the personal and abstract toward the political and back to paradox.

The strongest moment is the closing couplet. "For I am truth and I have lied, I do not exist, / And let this be the only truth ever to persist" earns its paradox because the whole poem has been building toward self-cancellation. The longer line lengths there also slow the pace and give the ending appropriate weight.

Where the poem works less consistently is in the handling of rhyme and meter. The first stanza moves freely, with no insistent rhyme, and that openness suits its subject—truth that is "slippery" and "ungrasped." But from the second stanza on, the poem locks into a tighter rhyming pattern (questioned/mentioned/objections/projections, and so on), and the meter is not always steady enough to carry it. Lines like "But they only grasp, / The tinted glass" land cleanly, while "I divide the enlightened kind, / The rest is blind, / They claim" stumbles rhythmically, partly because "They claim" is a short fragment hanging after a full rhyme has already closed. Reading the rhyming stanzas aloud and marking where the stresses fall would help reveal which lines pull against the established beat; tightening those would let the rhymes feel inevitable rather than arrived-at.

A second area to reconsider is abstraction. The third stanza is the most vivid because it reaches for concrete images: "leaders smile, / While mothers cry." That contrast does real work in a single stroke. Much of the rest of the poem stays at the level of statement—"a tool to justify," "people's silent guide," "life's unsightly side"—where the speaker tells the reader what truth is rather than enacting it. The poem might gain force by trusting more images of the kind the third stanza already supplies, letting scenes carry the argument the abstractions currently state outright.

One small mechanical note: "non transcend" appears to intend "none," and the correction is worth making so the line reads as meant.

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