It Is What It Is

It is what it is
I see the sobbing boy holding his empty cone,
ice cream scoop on the floor as his dad hugs
him and says, Don’t cry, son, it is what it is.

I’ve heard it a lot lately. Is it a current cliché
or catch phrase, the pat answer recap signaling
an end of any further discussion on the matter?
Have I missed something? What does it mean?
Was it said to make the crying child feel better?

Or like the coach at the post game conference 
fielding endless questions about why he lost the
big game ending his interview with It is what it is.

Does it mean it is not this and it is not that, but it
is something more vague having no known identity
as when Bill Clinton questioned the meaning of it?

Instead of it is what it is, perhaps it should be
it ain’t what it ain’t  ~ ‘taint what ‘taint
or it is not what it is not  ~ ‘snot what ‘snot.

It seems like a lackadaisical auto-response
accepting that things are just what they are, 
nothing more, and nothing can be done about it 
forever and ever shall it be, 
world without end,  Amen.

It is what it is falls in the category with 
other senseless, accepted sayings such as: 
at this moment in time, the fact of the matter is
when it’s over, it’s over, que sera, sera.

Nonetheless, having said this, 
it still remains the same.
it is what it is ~ it’s what it’s 
or as the poet part of me says, 
‘tis what ‘tis.

Copyright © Carl Papa Palmer | Year Posted 2020

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