“To Matt Freeman”
By Thomas Park
Went to the psychiatrist last week
She was pleasant enough, friendly
Seemed interested most
When I confessed
To my 5% rage issue
Really? She asked, eyes wide,
This is the first time in 20 years
You’ve admitted to not being
Perpetually calm
I close my eyes, music
Fills the room, It’s
Morrison
My memory of my Dr. shifts
She disappears into her
Suit, I don’t know
If she is getting smaller
Or it bigger
The clinic room somehow
Opens to the desert– It’s
Matt Freeman,
He’s leading a circle
Of people, holding hands
They turn to me, Matt
Looks up, sees beyond me
Sees my shrink
Knows what I am about to say
“Was she amused”, Matt asks,
“About the ‘always seeming calm thing’?”
In an utterly inoffensive way,
I feel that Matt, in his mild,
Slightly nasal voice, is
About to tell me,
“I told you so.”
“To Matt Freeman Part 2”
By Thomas Park
A liver may not forgive
But God can
A person who lacks
Today’s current mindless resolve
An intellectual
In a world afraid of books
Can we forgive, can God forgive
A discourse deeper
Than that of a college fraternity house
Worse, can we forgive, can God forgive
A man who is free
Until he forgives himself
There is a Door in the world
Not Death,
Calls out to you
Matt, can you forgive
Us
