{"id":3244,"date":"2023-04-05T21:59:03","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T03:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irenenorth.com\/writings\/?p=3244"},"modified":"2024-04-22T02:46:04","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T02:46:04","slug":"storyteller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/2023\/04\/05\/storyteller\/","title":{"rendered":"Storyteller"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>\n

Storyteller<\/strong><\/p>\n

They tell me I’m good at telling stories
\nbut they don’t want to hear mine
\nit’s too dark
\nit’s too sad
\nit’s too scary
\nand they don’t want to think about it<\/p>\n

They want me to tell them stories
\nbut accounts need to be happy
\ntales need to be funny
\na narrative which can be shared<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me another story about your grandma,\u201d they say.
\nThose are fun
\nthose are nice
\nthose make me think of my family
\nand not anything sad<\/p>\n

They don’t want to hear my stories
\nof violence and anguish
\nthey don’t want to hear my stories
\nof loneliness and torment
\nThey don’t want to hear my stories
\nunless there’s a smile at the end<\/p>\n

No one wants to hear descriptions
\nof potential snatched away
\nor chronicles of terror and screams,
\nsuffering and tears<\/p>\n

keep those stories to yourself
\nthat’s for you to figure out
\nshoulders to cry on are rescinded
\nit’s too much for them to endure<\/p>\n

I write my stories down on paper
\nfor no one else to view
\nEveryone says they want to read them
\nbut no one ever does<\/p>\n

They say they want me to share my stories
\nbut as soon as I open my mouth
\nthe topic gets changed
\nkeep that to yourself<\/p>\n

Tears stain the paper as I go
\nmemories I don’t want in my head
\ntransferred to dead trees
\nbut the visions live on just for me<\/p>\n

They don’t want to hear my stories
\nof brutality and struggle
\nThey don’t want to hear my stories
\nof solitude and sorrow
\nThey don’t want to hear my stories
\nunless there’s a smile at the end<\/p>\n

No one wants to hear
\nstories with terror, screams, and wails
\nof potential snatched away
\nor lamentations of what could have been<\/p>\n

keep those stories to yourself
\nthat’s for you to figure out
\nshoulders to cry on are retracted
\nit’s too much for them to bear
\nweeping should be kept solitary<\/p>\n

Asleep or awake
\nmy stories are continually shared
\nonly with myself.
\nEveryone says I’m a good storyteller
\nbut joy is all they want to hear
\nThere is no desire to receive my speech<\/p>\n

Their reticence serves to placate themselves
\npat themselves on the back
\nwith empty platitudes
\nthinking they provided guidance
\nand good deeds
\nwhile I process the images alone<\/p>\n

I sit alone at home
\nputting horror and repugnance into words.
\nWith my little blue book and black ink
\nI detail my stories
\nthat no one will ever read<\/p>\n

They don’t want to hear my stories
\nof trying to pick myself up again
\nThey don’t want to hear my stories
\nunless it’s tied up neatly with a bow
\nThey don’t want to hear my stories
\nunless there’s pleasantness at the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Storyteller They tell me I’m good at telling stories but they don’t want to hear mine it’s too dark it’s too sad it’s too scary and they don’t want to think about it They want me to tell them stories but accounts need to be happy tales need to be funny a narrative which can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[238,285,294,377],"class_list":["post-3244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-mental-health","tag-poetry","tag-ptsd","tag-trauma"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3540,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions\/3540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}