INSTEAD

None of my own poems since early November;

Not even reading beloved weekly New Yorker.

Poems erupt in my mind, sometimes and often

Patiently waiting until fingers meet keyboard.

Been reading Irish detective novel for Book Club *

And starting this month's book by courageous teen. **

Instead of writing and reading for my own pleasure,

For now, instead, honored to read new grad students'

Diligently-crafted courageous and poignant family histories,

Renditions of students' lives, embedded in theory;

Forging contextualized understanding,

Resulting in light bulbs of recognition;

Evoking soft tears and reclaimed projective responses,

Facilitating forgiveness of self and others; 

All in service of addressing unfinished family business,

The most crucial apprenticeship for counselors/therapists.

When fall quarter ends, in two weeks, I will be bereft and adrift,

Like missing characters in a completed and compelling novel:

Missing students' intimate grapplings with histories and futures.

Instead, I will return to my life, grieving and enriched.

Ann Beth Blake

(c) December 4, 2014

* The Likening by Tara French

** I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai