Hour 5<\/p>\n
9\/2\/2023<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Learning How To Be Ashamed\u2026”<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shame isn’t a naturally happening trait.\u00a0 No one is born with it\u00a0It takes learning and practice and living and \u2026well, I guess it\u2019s a gift that keeps on giving – ya know?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I remember being taught I was “poor”.<\/p>\n Yeah, really.\u00a0 I got an “A” in Poor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Just some of the lessons:<\/p>\n Catholic school –<\/p>\n the parish covered my tuition,<\/p>\n but not the books<\/p>\n nor a lunch<\/p>\n nor the required uniform(s)<\/p>\n (and I grew too \u2013 sigh),<\/p>\n and the \u201clessons\u201d were ALWAYS in public,<\/p>\n and always discussed – aloud.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My then stepdad was union\u2026<\/p>\n he was out for months and months on strikes –<\/p>\n you COULD buy butter by the stick, single eggs,<\/p>\n some staples by the ounce, was mom and pop stores (single room) even a Grocer (BIG room and Shelves of couldn’t haves –<\/p>\n there was even credit IF you were deemed \u201cWorthy\u201d<\/p>\n (and that capital was meant BECAUSE it had a cost) –<\/p>\n some were NEVER worthy; I was deemed a thief,<\/p>\n though I didn’t EVER take a thing, but I was POOR –<\/p>\n they said \u2026so guilty.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mom was always a black sheep of the family –<\/p>\n and dads came and went\u2026<\/p>\n tenements and so many broken dreams followed us.<\/p>\n During one strike they gave away my dog –<\/p>\n to the mayor no less<\/p>\n and HE took it too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I learned how to read and sight memorize<\/p>\n a textbook – in a day<\/p>\n ’cause they didn’t give books on credit<\/p>\n and dollars took months – when you could.<\/p>\n Ever hear, “What’s that trash doing in MY house?”<\/p>\n as you studied from a book you couldn’t buy<\/p>\n or even borrow ’cause it is needed EVERY day\u2026<\/p>\n yeah, shame is learned\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And when you\u2019re ‘tween dads and “uncles” –<\/p>\n you walk the miles to an aunt’s house,<\/p>\n to ask (mom said) for what could be spared.<\/p>\n And the meanness \u2026yeah, shame takes practice –<\/p>\n and ya get to stand in the kitchen, while they eat<\/p>\n in the dining room\u2026 and you HEAR what gets said,<\/p>\n ya hear and shrink and shrink more each time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You CAN forgive, but never forget\u2026<\/p>\n Yeah, ya learn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You never really escape,<\/p>\n but you \u201cdeal\u201d<\/p>\n ’til ya die.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chris<\/p>\n (C) Chris Twyford 9\/2\/2023<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hour 5 9\/2\/2023 “Learning How To Be Ashamed\u2026” Shame isn’t a naturally happening trait.\u00a0 No one is born with it\u00a0It takes learning and practice and living and \u2026well, I guess it\u2019s a gift that keeps on giving – ya know? I remember…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5226,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5926,5735,10,1084],"class_list":["post-129731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","tag-2023-hour-5","tag-chris","tag-poetry","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129731"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145279,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129731\/revisions\/145279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}