Rochelle Ratner
Touching
(for Paul Aiken)
1
“I’ll tell you why
these chairs
are so far apart
I don’t like it
when my patients
sit too close to me,
I feel like they’re
intruding
I do a lot
of physical therapy,
though - that’s what
the cot is doing here
I’ll massage their muscles,
often if a patient’s
going through a crisis
I’ll simply hold him.”
2
I keep my distance, too:
Getting close late at night
I panicked, thought
I’d gone too far, tried
to turn back
landed your van
in a ditch
a mile from home.
I call in desperation
from a farmhouse,
try to move it
one final time
before you get here
Feel too dumb to
apologize.
3
Just a few feet
from your car -
I walk to meet you
even before you check
how badly it’s dug in there
you fold your arms around me.
Steady now.
Page(s) 17-18
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