The forbidden subjects abound
So many things that must not be mentioned
Offend no one
Trigger none
Let lies stand unchallenged
Don’t burst the bubbles
Of illusions and denial
They don’t want to hear
What your Daddy did
Or about the bruises you hide
Or when you realized your
Attraction to your own gender
Or how your boss said
You could get a raise
Or why you flinch
At every touch
Or why you fear so
To leave that partner
Or about your period
Or about feeling old
Or about your miscarriage
Or about your abortion
Or about your real needs
Or your true desires
And most especially
Most fiercely
Most deaf-ly
About the loneliness
Of imposed silence
And not speaking the
Truth of such things
The very things that must
Be spoken of to heal

Bob Wertzler is retired from almost twenty years in the mental health field in California and Arizona. There are times the title, “Recovering Therapist”, seems to fit. In 2006 he retired to move to Western North Carolina to help and become primary care giver for his father who had developed Dementia. Before all that, there was work at various times as a soldier (US Army 1967-70), community organizer, cab driver, welfare case worker, wooden toy maker, carpenter, warehouse worker, and other things. He relates to a line in a Grateful Dead song, “What a long, strange trip its been.”