From the collection published in 2021, And Don’t Come Back.
In My Head If Nowhere Else
A good impression
riding in on a lot of inertia –
that was how we got to
the what of
what we thought of him.
Wanting something to be
is a powerful force and with
no one suspicious or
prepared for the possibility
that someone too good to be true
(everyone said so
and meant it in the kind of way you do
when you envy and are afraid of a person
all in the same moment)
that someone too good to be true
might just be conjured up out of wishful thinking
well you know how it goes
he was the smartest man
I’ve ever known
I wished I’d known.
I should have known.
5/8/20
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
I think there’s a lot of that going around.
It is so easy to be taken in.
Yes, it is.
I like the way this poem’s rhythm and structure is reflective of that push and pull thinking we experience when we encounter someone who is charismatic but intimidating, who has an appealing façade but in whom we detect some troubling possibilities beneath the surface.
Yes, it can be hard to decide about that kind of person, you go back and forth, and so often there is never a stable resolution as to how you actually feel, or what the person is.
Very true and yet I always want to think the best of people. Then they disappoint…
Yes. The story of my life, over and over! But I guess I’d still rather be an optimist and you know what, just when you think it’s a world of trouble out there, somebody steps up in a way you didn’t expect. That is nice.