Frederick Feirstein Verse-Virtual 2018 January

January 2018

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 Pond

Nature is never wrong, the lilies say.
Simply alive in the pond, life goes on.
Despite carnivorous violence, firestorms,
We are porcelain quiet. Sit on this bench,
Listen to the Baroque Ensemble play
Music composed during the French
Revolution; cherish the bees
Closed in our petals, close your eyes,
Close them, close yourself in these harmonies.
All civilizations die.

-from New and Selected Poems

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