Rationalization
by Charles W. Brice
The man behind the couch
serves libido for lunch
destrudo for dinner
Mmmmmmmmm
Ration your reason
Your ratio of reality
Too much is scary
It’ll all be okay
He needs to get paid for missed sessions
You understand
He has kids you need to send to college
A mortgage you pay with your neurosis
That’s understandable
A good gig if you can get it
And I got it when I entered
the Psychoanalytic Institute in 1990
My Supervising Analyst charged me $180 an hour on a patient I was seeing for $10
an hour four times a week
Es vas reasonable
I was only in the hole $140 a week
for the privilege of my supervisor falling asleep
while I was reporting to him
my patient’s dream
He wanted to empathize with that dream
by dreaming himself
He lived in a huge house
with oak paneling
Crystal
Oriental rugs
He should get my money
He had a right to it
He was rational
Displacement/Sublimation
What place is Dis
Chain gang a workin’ Displacement Road
for the sub/bureau
the psychoanalytic precinct
Moving from sublimation’s sublime to displacement’s slime
From painting the Sistine ceiling because it’s forbidden to be gay to kicking a dog after the
iconic rough day
It’s the place you’re
meant to be
bumped along
the metonymic
highway
Yield the right of way
Yield the right way
BIO
Charles W. Brice is a retired psychoanalyst and is the author of Flashcuts Out of Chaos (WordTech Editions, 2016) and Mnemosyne’s Hand (WordTech Editions, forthcoming, May, 2018). His poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in over forty-five publications including The Atlanta Review, Hawaii Review, Chiron Review, The Dunes Review, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Sport Literate, SLAB, The Paterson Literary Review, Spitball, VerseWrights, The Writing Disorder, and elsewhere.
