Apparently, I Think Everything Is Black and White

“You think everything is black and white!”
That’s what everyone tells me.
All my life.

But if life were black and white,
why would anyone speak
—let alone write?

I write because life is grey.

To articulate is to render,
in black and white,
what is irreducibly grey.

Annoyingly,
Whenever I hedge
“I believe,” “probably,” “I’d assume”
Grammarly tells me to remove.

Be bold. Be confident.
Be wrong, but clearly.
Well, I know.
Tell me about it.

This isn’t to say nothing is black and white.
“1 + 1 is 2.”
“Jesus, Dyske,
you think everything is black and white!”
says no one.
Why?
Because “black and white”
is a rule of that language game.

How do we know
which game we are playing?
What can and cannot
be said in black and white?
I wish people asked this more.
Not to me—
to themselves.

Because it’s not just math.

If X can be stated in black and white,
and doing so annoys you—
maybe the problem
isn’t me?

Grammarly just told me
to remove that “maybe”
but I left it in.

If Y cannot be pinned down,
and I try anyway,
then what seduces you
is not what I say
but what I fail to capture.

And annoyance
always says more
about the annoyed.