Showing posts with label shame drain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shame drain. Show all posts

Friday, October 10, 2014

"The Shame-Drain," by Hans Ostrom


Damn it, more than few people
among our seven or is it eight billion
need something like one of those drains
they put in patients after surgery,
except that in this case
the thing would be attached to the psyche--
a shame drain.

Hell, no wonder so many people
drown in and under the sheer tidal volume
of shame laid on them in their lives.
They slog through heavy shame
on their way to getting shamed again.
They breathe in particulate shame.
And yelled shaming hammers at their ears.

Drain that shame. It belongs to someone else.
Siphon that swamp, get out that bad water,
hateful slop, and wet air
that's got you slumped over, mumbling
things, loathing yourself.



hans ostrom 2014