Poetry Friday: Real?

I love this poem and how it plays with what is "real" and what is "invented" in poetry, and writing in general.  The emotion, yeah, it's all real.  The details might be changed a bit, here and there.

Are All the Break-Ups in Your Poems Real?  

by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

 

If by real you mean as real as a shark tooth stuck

in your heel, the wetness of a finished lollipop stick,

the surprise of a thumbtack in your purse—

then Yes, every last page is true, every nuance,

bit, and bite. Wait. I have made them up—all of them—

and when I say I am married, it means I married

all of them, a whole neighborhood of past loves. 

Here's the rest. 

And here's today's roundup.