1. Read the poem 

2. Do your own reflection on it, noting what it inspires in you

3. Feel free to use your own reflection as your prompt or…

4. Use the selection of prompts below the poem

5. Pick one that inspires you and write (feel free to use only one or write several poems using different prompts) or…

6. Don’t use any of the provided prompts and follow your inspiration from wherever it comes

Shame

It is a cramped little state with no foreign policy,
Save to be thought inoffensive. The grammar of the language
Has never been fathomed, owing to the national habit
Of allowing each sentence to trail off in confusion.
Those who have visited Scusi, the capital city,
Report that the railway-route from Schuldig passes
Through country best described as unrelieved.
Sheep are the national product. The faint inscription
Over the city gates may perhaps be rendered,
"I'm afraid you won't find much of interest here."
Census-reports which give the population
As zero are, of course, not to be trusted,
Save as reflecting the natives' flustered insistence
That they do not count, as well as their modest horror
Of letting one's sex be known in so many words.
The uniform grey of the nondescript buildings, the absence
Of churches or comfort-stations, have given observers
An odd impression of ostentatious meanness,
And it must be said of the citizens (muttering by
In their ratty sheepskins, shying at cracks in the sidewalk)
That they lack the peace of mind of the truly humble.
The tenor of life is careful, even in the stiff
Unsmiling carelessness of the border-guards
And douaniers, who admit, whenever they can,
Not merely the usual carloads of deodorant
But gypsies, g-strings, hasheesh, and contraband pigments.
Their complete negligence is reserved, however,
For the hoped-for invasion, at which time the happy people
(Sniggering, ruddily naked, and shamelessly drunk)
Will stun the foe by their overwhelming submission,
Corrupt the generals, infiltrate the staff,
Usurp the throne, proclaim themselves to be sun-gods,
And bring about the collapse of the whole empire. 

—Richard Wilbur
Richard Wilbur was an American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry twice in 1957 and 1989; He was also poet laureate of the United States in 1987–88.

Next Read Around is November 13, 2020 at 4:00 PM PST

My Thoughts

Last week’s prompts were based on Rumi’s The Guest House, which implies that unwanted thoughts and emotions are temporary “guests” that come and go, even if they might, in the process, wreak havoc. But there are some emotions that seem to take up a more permanent residence. These are the emotions around which we wrap our attitudes, that create the tone of our life, or stabilize our general mood. As a life-coach working with people over many years, and by observation of myself and others, I have always been struck with how certain enduring negative judgements of oneself or others — especially feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and shame — commonly roam the guest house.

This week’s poem from pulitzer prize poet and former US poet laureate, Richard Wilbur, characterizes Shame as a kind of city-state, a region of its own, and then describes the scenery, the buildings, and the people that inhabit it. The poem captures the bland treachery of shame: the deep betrayal of oneself, the denial of the dignity of life, and the longing to be invaded with happiness. Shame has much stronger border walls then guilt. The difference is that one is guilty for an action or an inaction, or for the harm that comes as consequence of one’s action or inaction. Guilt is “resolvable” through forgiveness, or by making amends, or by some form of penance. But shame is attached to one’s self, to who you are and, therefore, it become’s a part of one’s local identity. I use the phrase" “local identity” as a complement to Wilbur’s poem because any state of mind, such a shame, is nested in a greater geography. But since the citizens of Shame believe they do not count and since they restrict themselves to their own borders, afriad to be seen or heard, they do not realize they can also particpate in a greater economy than the underground contraband of Shame. I love Wilbur’s poetic ending on the hoped-for invasion of “sniggering, ruddily naked and shamelessly drunk” happy people.

Scusi: Itaian for I beg your pardon or I'm sorry.
Schuldig: German for guilty
doua·nier | \ dwȧnyā \plural douaniers\ -ā(z)  \: a customs officer

Week 31 Prompt Menu

1. Pick an emotional state of your choice and write about it as if it is a a geograhical state or province, describing its landscape and structures, its institutions, its people and their customs, etc. If you choose a “negative” state, describe what might cause it to collapse.

2. Use the title, Shame, as a prompt and write your own poem about it.

3. What is the difference to you between guilt and shame? How would you characterize the difference poetically?

4. Take the train from Schuldig (guilt) to Scusi (apology) and describe the scenery and what what transpires on the trip.

5. Write a poetic manual for making apologies.

6. Write a tribute to things for which you are gulity without apology.

7. Wilbur uses the wonderful phrase, “the modest horror of letting one’s sex be known in so many words.” Use the phrase “The modest horror of…” as a prompt and write whatever flows from your pen.

8. Wilbur refers to the act of “shying from cracks in the sidewalk,” which reminds me of childhood (step on a crack, break your mother’s back). Use that or other similar childhood superstiitions (Find a penny, pick it up…Black cats crossing your path; A rabbit’s foot; Breaking a mirror…etc.) as a prompt and free write from there.

9. Describe what might happen if an invasion of (sniggering, ruddily naked, shamelessly drunk) happy people took over your “state.”

10. Write from whatever else in the poem inspires you or from elsewhere in your life.