Excerpt From An Essay On Polite Manners

I remember when I was, at last, able

to understand why, out of courtesy,

Thanksgivings placed me at the children's table

so as not to disrupt the conversation

shared by adults in the family;

because of a lack of education

and experience required for participation.

 

Starward

Author's Notes/Comments: 

Prior to kindergarten, this seating arrangement offended me.  Once I entered kindergarten, and began to learn basic, civilized courtesies, I understood the general principle.  By the time I was seven, I noticed that my adolescent cousin still remained with us (ostensibly to supervise the table's processes).  As she was, consistently each year, clad in a miniskirt, tan stockings (with reinforced toes), and deliberate shoelessness, I found that the adults' conversation, at their table, was no longer of interest to me.  :)   (She went on to earn a PhD, and MD, and a JD; her scholarly acumen as profound as her beauty, especially when unshod.)

 

And lest anyone chide me for an incestuous thought, being an adopted orphan, I shared no blood or DNA with her or either side of her family.

View j-c4113d's Full Portfolio
lyrycsyntyme's picture

haha - appreciate that last

haha - appreciate that last note below your write (though, at such a young age, one could be forgiven anyway).

 

I do feel like we all, at certain moments, can learn from this set up. At certain times, we are each mere children on a topic, if that. Perhaps that is your message?

J-C4113D's picture

Yes, especially as regards

Yes, especially as regards certain comments made recently at postpoems, lol.   And yes, I enjoyed writing the explanatory note much more than the poem itself.  Thanks for the very observant comment.


J-Called