Fissured Tongue Series
Decepción
by Rosalie Hendon
Fissured Tongue Series Vol VII | May 2026
by Rosalie Hendon
Fissured Tongue Series Vol VII | May 2026
“ " by J G Orudjev. Mixed media collage, ? x ? inches, 202?
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Decepción
Deception sounds like decepción in Spanish,
but it’s not the same.
Decepción means disappointment.
In linguistics, that’s called a false cognate.
You think you know the word, that
it’s the same because it sounds the same.
Like the false bottom of a drawer–
something is hidden underneath,
beyond your grasp.
A deception is a disappointment,
but not in reverse.
If someone disappoints you,
they didn’t deceive you.
You may have deceived yourself,
ignoring all the signs, all the flags they flew.
The ones that were obvious in retrospect.
but it’s not the same.
Decepción means disappointment.
In linguistics, that’s called a false cognate.
You think you know the word, that
it’s the same because it sounds the same.
Like the false bottom of a drawer–
something is hidden underneath,
beyond your grasp.
A deception is a disappointment,
but not in reverse.
If someone disappoints you,
they didn’t deceive you.
You may have deceived yourself,
ignoring all the signs, all the flags they flew.
The ones that were obvious in retrospect.
***
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About the Author
Cady Favazzo is a poet and teacher from Wyoming. She earned her MFA from the University of Idaho. You can find some of her recent work in Gigantic Sequins, Ninth Letter, Phoebe, and elsewhere. *About the Work
This poem is called "Memory" but mine isn't always very good. The windchime, the tree, the quality of light. Those are the things I'm sure of. *About the Process
I wrote the first draft of this poem in one fast sitting after thinking about a specific chunk of my childhood. Many of the moments are discrete, separated by time and distance, so when I finally tuned back into the poem, I paid attention to sound in an attempt to find some continuity of feeling and meaning. I’m always thinking about the balance between telling my story, protecting the people I love or have loved, and working with the limitations of any single iteration of the truth. |
About the Artist
J G Orudjev (she/her) is a mixed media artist, collagist, and sculptor living and working outside of Washington DC. Her work explores the nature of memory, transformative and transitory states, and the act and language of making meaning. "Collage is uniquely suited to this path because it is fundamentally reflective of the ways we construct narrative from association — the strata of image and context that provide the basis for both our private archetypes, and our shared visual language." J G’s work has appeared in print both domestically and internationally, has been selected by jury to show in galleries throughout the United States, and is part of several private collections. She is a member of NOMA, a cooperative gallery, where she fulfills a roll as a member coordinator. She also works as an artistic and curatorial consultant to a regionally recognized framer and gallerist. Find her online at bio.link/jgorudjev |
