# 127 TAKING TURNS ON THE COUCH

(An oblique lesson in empathy)

You tell me “It can be easily fixed.”
Using the references and rigid tools
Of your own apprenticeship.
Smug and confident.
You say, “It’s all in my book. You can do it.”

First a bit of basic hygiene
An easy discard --
Sensitivities out the window
Emotions on the shelf.

But there is a problem with this.
I am not a simple compilation
Of stick and stone and logic.
I am imagination, creativity,
Artistry, passion and sentiment.

You ask too much.
You expect the impossible.
I cannot do it.

So now you climb on the couch.
“I want to tell you (the Authority in all this),
That you have a problem as well.
That is clouding your judgment.

A problem rutted in logic,
And a fixation on
Your toolbox of pinchers, pliers,
And counseling haywire.
So shelve the logic.
See if you can.

Toss your science of rational thinking,
Consult your conscience.
Examine your soul.
Dig out the tools of tender yielding.
And fix YOUR problem.

“When you’re done we will talk with mutual understanding.”