Four Poems
Abraham D. Fineman, M.D.
FIRST GRADE
A little broken car You pull from your pocket See-you say And there follows A long disconnected list Of attributes woven only In the vagueness of your little feeling-mind Into child-cognizant awareness For the moment you are here Here rolling down the incline Of my couch Falling upside down On my rug Picked up gently by me And replaced Perhaps we can fix him No it's no use-you say For see-an irreplaceable part Is missing. Forever. So soon so soon. TEENAGE SCHOOL PHOBIA
It has been now three months Since you entered Thin frightened slightly bewildered But defiant And silent Dr. Fineman is Director of the Arlington (Mass.) Branch of the Mystic Valley Mental Health Center, and is in private practice in psychoanalysis and child psychiatry. Reprints TTUly be requestedfrom the author, 52 Whitney Tavern Road, Weston, Mass. 02193.
542
543
Four Poems
And silent almost You have remained-though On occasion a lifting of your voice In those rare games of part skill Which challenges a bit your So excellent cognitive mind You seem to forget Your circumstances and you become A girl charming and lighthearted Your lovely long oval face Wide in smiling I have learned Not to attribute harbingry To those cloudless moments They are like the quick Out and in rays When the sky is full Of darkly blowing clouds And suddenly through chance Maneuverings of cross-purposed winds A space appears High overhead And the brilliant sun One always knew Streams forth But to one's outstretched arms Recedes And grey rolling turbulence Meets the eye again So am I left alone To swivel At a desk You are not there In the stuffed chair In the Northeast corner I look out the window Even as you But your vision is far set Your perception does not record What your eye and mine sees The bare oaks swaying Long black fingertips Gesturing like Balanchinc
544
Abraham D. Fineman
Brown old leaves Ragged and windblown Caught by skinny stragglers Of wild blueberry bushes And over all The mass of many greyed rock Jagged bits and squarish hunks A squirrel scampers A finch peeps warily into the thistle bottle We both look I see and you see We sit in silence Let's do something I plead You shrug your shoulders In half compliance That's good enough for me Some of you has returned. POSTCOLLEGE ADOLESCENT
You are more literal Your goings are real Insofar as the absence Of your small body Curiously so large-breasted Frequently so half-revealed I can never tell when For that which moves you To come or go Eludes me still I feel I shall know Only one day When tiny threads Have been spun And the knits emerged. One day you wept Another confused How could he have been Uncontrolled But juggled balls in mid-air Drop lifeless when motion ceases And hollow words Reverberate
545
Four Poems
In and out Unconnected to mouths No mutual collagen Binds you to her Who shall remain namelessOh wanderer In bright-faced endeavors List but a moment Perhaps she whispers Hush-a-bye. LATENCY SEX
What is this curious delight Half hidden by exuberant eyes The intricacies of water pistols Such names Mini-luger, little meanie See how the stream of this one Reaches narrow and far The other by contrast Is wide and splashing I recall an adolescent ditty About long and thin, short and thick Quite incomprehensible to your mind At present Your only pornograph A girl's behind Exposed from a moving car How the boys relished that one At night in the dorm Waggling their bottoms at each other.
Abraham D. Fineman, M.D.
FIRST GRADE
A little broken car You pull from your pocket See-you say And there follows A long disconnected list Of attributes woven only In the vagueness of your little feeling-mind Into child-cognizant awareness For the moment you are here Here rolling down the incline Of my couch Falling upside down On my rug Picked up gently by me And replaced Perhaps we can fix him No it's no use-you say For see-an irreplaceable part Is missing. Forever. So soon so soon. TEENAGE SCHOOL PHOBIA
It has been now three months Since you entered Thin frightened slightly bewildered But defiant And silent Dr. Fineman is Director of the Arlington (Mass.) Branch of the Mystic Valley Mental Health Center, and is in private practice in psychoanalysis and child psychiatry. Reprints TTUly be requestedfrom the author, 52 Whitney Tavern Road, Weston, Mass. 02193.
542
543
Four Poems
And silent almost You have remained-though On occasion a lifting of your voice In those rare games of part skill Which challenges a bit your So excellent cognitive mind You seem to forget Your circumstances and you become A girl charming and lighthearted Your lovely long oval face Wide in smiling I have learned Not to attribute harbingry To those cloudless moments They are like the quick Out and in rays When the sky is full Of darkly blowing clouds And suddenly through chance Maneuverings of cross-purposed winds A space appears High overhead And the brilliant sun One always knew Streams forth But to one's outstretched arms Recedes And grey rolling turbulence Meets the eye again So am I left alone To swivel At a desk You are not there In the stuffed chair In the Northeast corner I look out the window Even as you But your vision is far set Your perception does not record What your eye and mine sees The bare oaks swaying Long black fingertips Gesturing like Balanchinc
544
Abraham D. Fineman
Brown old leaves Ragged and windblown Caught by skinny stragglers Of wild blueberry bushes And over all The mass of many greyed rock Jagged bits and squarish hunks A squirrel scampers A finch peeps warily into the thistle bottle We both look I see and you see We sit in silence Let's do something I plead You shrug your shoulders In half compliance That's good enough for me Some of you has returned. POSTCOLLEGE ADOLESCENT
You are more literal Your goings are real Insofar as the absence Of your small body Curiously so large-breasted Frequently so half-revealed I can never tell when For that which moves you To come or go Eludes me still I feel I shall know Only one day When tiny threads Have been spun And the knits emerged. One day you wept Another confused How could he have been Uncontrolled But juggled balls in mid-air Drop lifeless when motion ceases And hollow words Reverberate
545
Four Poems
In and out Unconnected to mouths No mutual collagen Binds you to her Who shall remain namelessOh wanderer In bright-faced endeavors List but a moment Perhaps she whispers Hush-a-bye. LATENCY SEX
What is this curious delight Half hidden by exuberant eyes The intricacies of water pistols Such names Mini-luger, little meanie See how the stream of this one Reaches narrow and far The other by contrast Is wide and splashing I recall an adolescent ditty About long and thin, short and thick Quite incomprehensible to your mind At present Your only pornograph A girl's behind Exposed from a moving car How the boys relished that one At night in the dorm Waggling their bottoms at each other.
