I was there at your conception
In the epinephrine of your mother’s shame
You felt me in the fluid of your mother’s womb
I came upon you before you could speak
Before you understood
Before you had any way of knowing
I came upon you when you were learning to walk
When you were unprotected and exposed
When you were vulnerable and needy
Before you had any boundaries
My name is Toxic Shame
I came upon you when you were magical
Before you could know I was there
I severed your soul
I pierced you to the core
I brought you feelings of being flawed and defective
I brought you feelings of distrust, ugliness, stupidity, doubt, worthlessness, inferiority, and unworthiness
I made you feel different
I told you there was something wrong with you
I soiled your Godlikeness
My name is Toxic Shame
I existed before conscience
Before guilt, before morality
I am the master emotion
I am the internal voice that whispers words of condemnation
I am the internal shudder that courses through you without any mental preparation
My name is Toxic Shame
I live in secrecy
In the deep moist banks of darkness, depression and despair
Always I sneak up on you
I catch you off guard
I come through the back door
Uninvited, unwanted
The first to arrive
I was there at the beginning of time With Father Adam, Mother Eve, Brother Cain
I was at the Tower of Babel, the Slaughter of the Innocents
My name is Toxic Shame
I come from “shameless” caretakers, abandonment, ridicule,
abuse, neglect, perfectionist systems
I am empowered by the shocking intensity of a parent’s rage
The cruel remarks of siblings
The jeering humiliation of other children
The awkward reflection in the mirrors
The touch that feels icky and frightening
The slap, the pinch, the jerk that ruptures trust
I am intensified by a racist, sexist culture
The righteous condemnation of religious bigots
The fears and pressures of schooling
The hypocrisy of politicians
The multigenerational shame of dysfunctional family systems
My name is Toxic Shame
I can transform a woman person, a gay person, and Oriental person, a precious child into
A bitch, a bull dyke, a faggot, a chink, a selfish little bastard
I bring pain that is chronic
A pain that will not go away
I am the hunter that stalks you night and day
Every day, everywhere
I have no boundaries
You try to hide from me but you cannot
Because I live inside of you
I make you feel hopeless
Like there is no way out
My name is Toxic Shame
My pain is so unbearable that you must pass me on to others
through control, perfectionism, contempt, criticism, blame,
envy, judgment, power, and rage
My pain is so intense
You must cover me up with addictions, rigid roles,
reenactment, and unconscious ego defenses
My pain is so intense that you must numb out and no longer feel me
I convinced you that I am gone – that I do not exist
you experience absence and emptiness.
My name is Toxic Shame
I am the core of co-dependency
I am spiritual bankruptcy
The logic of absurdity
The repetition of compulsion
I am crime, violence, incest, rape
I am the voracious hole that fuels all addictions
I am instability and lust
I twist who you are into what you do and have I murdered your soul.
and you pass me on for generations
My name is Toxic Shame
Poem by Leo Booth & John Bradshaw