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Sometimes when proposing a treatment plan, I flash to an image of my patient seated beside me on this orchard bench watching orioles court in May’s sharp sunlight...
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a treatment plan, I flash to an image
of my patient seated beside me
on this orchard bench watching
orioles court in May’s sharp sunlight,
the female feathered in spring-leaf-green,
her mate glowing orange and new-moon
black, the couple a cloud of chatter
and lust. Strange, you might say,
for a psychiatrist to compare
the start of treatment to a mating ritual,
though Frieda Fromm-Reichmann
once said our work brings us
as close to one another as we can be
without having sex.
Yes, I know about boundaries,
how fantasy differs from action,
and the way we bond with patients
in an imaginary nest, woven with
strands of listening, limit setting,
and a curious kind of love.