The Ugly Truth

The Ugly Truth In the poem “Confession,” written by the Vietnamese-American poet, fiction writer, photographer and novelist, Linh Dinh, it is portrayed how beautifully flawed humans are through the thought process of an artist. Although Dinh focuses on photography and writing rather than painting, he proves to be a fan of the arts while beautifully voicing a painter in this poem. “Confession” differs from what someone may think of an artist’s ideas because it focuses on the ugly truth. In assisting the narrator’s ideas of the physiology of the body, Dinh utilizes the use of imagery within almost every line.

Immediately with the concept of the ugly truth, Dinh begins with, “Perhaps I’m a cruel artist.” When the narrator introduces himself this way it reveals right away the honesty behind Dinh. He then explains his cruel self, by describing his love and technique for embracing each flaw. Dinh allows “Confession” to stand out from society’s thoughts by doing this since most people in modern day fail to find beauty naturally. Near the end of the first stanza when pointing out certain defects, Dinh attains alliteration in the lines “jagged gaps” and “pamper each pimple” securing the reader’s attention.

By the second stanza, Dinh seems to bring to life his view of imperfections that lie within each person even more. His use of imagery

Linh Dinh represents how his definition of beauty falls far from the factual one, “a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight,” throughout the poem. Without Dinh’s excessive use of imagery, “Confession” may not have had the huge eye-opening element that it did. In conclusion it seems Dinh’s purpose in writing this poem, was for readers to learn from the painter and have a more realistic outlook of humanity while accepting it, versus trying to cover it