Frederick Feirstein Verse-Virtual 2016 December

December 2016

I've been a practicing psychoanalyst since l984 and have been publishing case studies that read like short stories for years in places like The Psychoanalytic Review and The Partisan Review. For the past few years I've been meaning to publish a jargon-free book for the general public: The Man In The BMW and Other Psychoanalytic Stories but each time I'm ready to tie them all together I get waylaid by theater. Or a new book of poems. Finally my wife, Linda, and I are going to finish the book of ten "stories." If you're interested you can find the Man In The BMW on Google.

For David, in the Middle of the 21st Century

David, when you are bald
(Though I hope you're not)
As you are now
And rocking in a hammock, remembering
Something that has no words,
Pick up this poem
That has your father in it:
I've just come home
From traveling. I
Shake out my umbrella.
I lift you from the darkness
And rock you like a pendulum.
You tug at my shirt, fascinated
By the blue and purple rectangles,
So I take it off.
You stuff it in your mouth, as you will
My virtues and my faults. The sun blazes
And holds us like a photo in the moment
As you hold this
As I once held you,
David.

Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell him or her. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is the beginning of community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -FF