December 2017
 Frederick Feirstein
feirstein2@aol.com
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.

THE PROMISE
(To the boy)

One day I'll return on my old raft,
The wind taking shape from my face
As water takes shape from a fish;
And on my chest your name
And your watch on my freckled wrist.

But promise when I come,
No talk of where I went
Or what I've done,
Or the self-despising fool
I've unintentionally 
Become

Only of possible dreams,
No dreams: real water and sky,
And dances and flowers and fruit
-- Where only the dreamless die.

Written at age 27 -- in SURVIVORS

© 2017 Frederick Feirstein
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