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My Psychotherapist is lying on the Couch
My psychotherapist is lying on the couch.
He has a bad back. Brought on by cancer,
Brought on by having to deal with people like me.
But that's not what he says. That's what I surmise.
I'm listening to the tick of the mantle clock in the twilight
Of a Tuesday afternoon in February. The 6th to be precise
I suppose I should say something. Every minute is another $
Lost forever. Maybe I should talk about that,
Maybe it will start me on all the other things I've lost.
Which is why I'm here. But I never really wanted that $,
Unlike all the other things I've broken or lost
Which my psychotherapist wants me to talk about
As he lies on the couch in his consulting room,
Maybe thinking, another minute, another $ for me.
I should ask him politely, "How's your back today?"
But I'll just get a non-committal answer, and then he'll add,
"Let's talk about you, that's what we're here for."
And I've gone a blank. That's my problem. So I say,
"Now I've gone all blank." He stirs and says,
"You're not blank. You're numb. That's understandable."
He's a wise guy. That thought alone is worth another $.
He gets up painfully from the couch and eases into an armchair.
He leans forward, pushing his spectacles back on his nose.
He peers at me intensely. And then it pours out from me - -
How I become the letter 'h' sitting upright in a chair
Waiting for the letter 't' to step up behind and point a dagger at my neck
While the letter 'e' comes to curl up like a kitten at my feet
And only then can I become a 'the'. He sighs.
"Now we're getting somewhere", he says. Maybe
That's why he's a psychotherapist and I'm a poet.
Maybe I'll email this to him. Maybe when he gets it
He'll start to forget about his pain. Maybe next time I'll lie on the couch.
Or maybe he'll cancel my appointment. Give up on me.
Refer me to someone better qualified to deal with all this,
Someone in the poetry reading public who won't charge a ¢.
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