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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

PO-EMotion #22- SHAME

April is National Poetry Month. Every year, my dear friend, and Poet Extraordinaire, Mary Lee Hahn, chooses a theme and writes a poem every day. She blogs and posts at two different places- YEAR OF READING and her fabulous new poetry blog, POETREPOSITORY.

This year's theme is PO-EMotions. Mary Lee promises, "I will write a poem a day that either evokes an emotion, or uses an emotion word in the title or body of the poem. Her list of emotions is here. I'm joining her, at least some days.

Today's emotion is shame.


Shame

For some people
shame is
a coffee spill on the
clean white t-shirt of life
minorly annoying
somewhat embarassing
but definitely
not incapacitating
or life changing

for others
shame is a ball and chain
they drag behind them
slowing and crippling
their every move

but then there are those
who view themselves as sun
in self-created solar systems
they rise every morning
proclaim their importance
demand that others
rotate around them
demonstrate no regard
for the rights or feelings
of other lesser planets
burn and destroy
without remorse

I wonder about those people.

They should be ashamed.

(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015






4 comments:

Kay said...

I like it. I've often wondered about those people who move through life, destroying everything in their path. Like you, I think they should be ashamed, but I worry about those who let shame become a ball and chain on their life.

Mary Lee said...

Shame and empathy seem to be closely related. Kay showed that in her poem today.

Chris said...

I agree completely about the "sun" people. How can they have no idea how hurtful they are to others?

Linda B said...

Those you described seem to be those who didn't make it past the age of 13. (Remember who I teach?) There are moments when the students get past it, & I know most will move on, but some. . . You showed it well, Carol.