A Phone Conversation With Mother (Sestina)

What do you make of our atrocities
abroad? Do you believe the newspapers
and BBC news?' I said, and she said
'I'm not a paranoid conspiracist,
where's the evidence for all this nonsense?'
'Well, okay, where's the evidence for yours?'

I said, and she said 'well you give me yours
first.' So I read out the atrocities
listed in my Noam Chomsky book. 'Nonsense'
she said, 'he's mad. I trust the newspapers.'
'Why do you think he's a conspiracist?'
I said. 'He's very out of touch' she said.

'You could be very out of touch' I said,
'why is Chompsky’s evidence worse than yours?’
‘Why do you trust a mad conspiracist?’
she said. ‘He has researched atrocities
and not just taken all the newspapers
for granted,’ I said. ‘This isn’t nonsense.’

‘How do you know his work isn’t nonsense?’
she said. ‘The papers are nonsense,’ I said.
‘I respect research more than newspapers.’
‘What is this ridiculous book of yours
which has all these alleged atrocities?’
she said. 'Chomsky's not a conspiracist’

I said. ‘He seems like a conspiracist
to me. Nobody else knows this nonsense
you've told me,’ she said. ‘What atrocities!?’
‘I gave you details from the book,’ I said.
‘Where's the details from these papers of yours?’
‘That’s precisely the damn point! Newspapers

don’t publish stupid nonsense! Newspapers
don’t spread the views of a conspiracist!'
‘Ad hominem’s a great tactic of yours’
I said. ‘You have said just as much nonsense
as me, except I've used sources,’ I said.

‘There aren’t sources as these atrocities
of yours simply never happened,’ she said.
'Papers don’t share alleged atrocities
from a mad conspiracist's book like yours.’