Disguising Themselves

Guilt and shame –
particularly the types that tower –
are virtuosos at coming up with ways
to conceal their identities.
So a conversation about how visits
to certain friends of yours languishing in jail
are becoming rare as cases speedily tried
could jump to what is labeled
“the primary task of those behind bars”
without you knowing why or how.
Such things do take place
without bothering to explain themselves,
because guilt and shame –
especially of the colossal kind –
are geniuses at coming up with ways
to disguise themselves.