HEAR
CAN YOU HEAR ME HEAR YOU?
I worked with 2 elective mutes Both likely in their 30’s
by now Both chose speechlessness for reasons unimaginable
Though if you bring your fine minds to the task certain details
may emerge Certain excruciations
They were both docile by the time I met them though the boy
had used super-human strength to throw several grown men off
of him I was told NEVER to touch him I watched his beard fill in
+sideburns develop There was another therapist who led him around
as though blind His hand atop hers She was a dead ringer for a Goddess
+he her son lover
With me he was often aroused +emitted sonorous growls In sessions
he drew snakes coming out of his oral cavity +broken bulldozer parts were
laid in the sandtray Impotent to uncover his wounds Therapist impotent too
But he was eager + growling And maybe one day he’d growl a word a sentence
I don’t want to play with fucking toys lady
I’m 15 I want to date +masturbate in peace
The other elective mute was a young girl She also had a submerged growl more
grunt really She belonged to my weekly therapy group She being the only mute
One day as we worked on giant self-portraits on white mural paper she began to
furiously colour herself brown And yes she was brown
In the end she ran away +hid in a garbage bin Therapist impotent once again If
only I had found a piece of brown mural paper + handed it to her Like I saw her
And didn’t need to be shown that she wasn’t white Nor was she mute Anymore
__
The psychotherapist learns little or nothing from his successes. But failures are
priceless experiences. They open the way to a better truth. No longer is he the
superior wise man, judge, and counsellor; he is a fellow participant who finds
himself involved just as deeply as the so-called patient.
(C.G. Jung The Practice Of Psychotherapy 1954)
FALL 2017
