We Learn to Externalise Blame
we learn to externalise blame
taking responsibility
appears to cause critical strain
it is not my fault,
it is a mantra,
chanted with absolute belief
religion,
teaches us to externalise blame
political parties,
well, it’s just the same
it is not us, it is them
we all seem to find a way
an idea,
formed in the words we say
as age stacks up the bricks
and,
brightly lit twenty something aspiration
finally concedes,
to thirty something then forty something –
self examination
externalising blame
becomes our full time occupation
where did genius go
of which,
there must be some misappropriation
we keep on finding a way
of living in a state of guilt and shame
James Garratt – December 2014
More poems at
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/
More about this blog, The Boy Behind the Glasses, here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/2020/01/08/the-boy-behind-the-glasses-an-introduction/
More poems from 2014 here
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/category/poems-and-writing-2014/
We Learn to Externalise Blame – Written December 2014 (Aged 39)
