This casual query was put to my friend Dave when he worked with under fives. The context was the relative reality of a face paint beard and a, well, home grown one.
What’s real is easy to define
(Provided that your brain’s ok)
But your experience and mine
Are different, so it’s hard to say
If my reality’s like yours.
Though on some things, we can agree
Like that’s the sky, and that’s the floor
And you are you and I am me.
My beard is real, because I grew it
This fact cannot be debated
Is yours less real because you drew it?
That’s where it gets complicated.
The difference is how they behave:
Your beard can be washed off, but mine
Is permanent… Until I shave.
What’s real? Not easy to define
Tom Juniper Poetry 