the healing capacity

Training

for the Speech-Language Pathologist at the outpatient occupational therapy clinic where I'm completing my fieldwork.

I must tell you that sometimes

in the gym, on the blue mats,

The two 5-year olds with their superhero masks

become to me like the nations of the world.

Countries that have taken their socks off

and are now sparring

as another country

looks on from the sidelines.

And you are reminding them to use their words.

And you are asking them to notice what is happening.

And by your presence and tone of voice you are commanding

that they attend to the reactions of the other.

These 5-year old boys,

Brash and strong-willed,

have come for their training:

moving, challenging themselves, executing a plan—

And sometimes the action gets fierce.

In which case, you use your voices and the position of your bodies to say

Wait a minute.  Something happened.

When one party loses attention: you say,

Come back here,

And all the worlds in orbit in the room slow

To respond to you saying,

Stop,

Sit.

You are asking the offender to look at the victim’s face

Saying,

Can you tell what he is feeling?

And you question the offender,

Did you mean for that to happen?

And the clock’s long hand moving through the pink pie slice of time stops.

Because when it comes to feelings,

And when it comes to misunderstandings,

And when it comes to how we express ourselves with our bodies,

We have all the time in the world.

And you are writing a story

Complete with pictures

About what happens when bodies move too quickly that they forget

Brains and hearts behind

And you are telling this story over and over again.

And time only breaks with the swell of your voices

and the release of your arms,

when the attention you have gathered spills over into relief—

Of a misunderstanding amended,

Of a mistake forgiven

Of a game renewed

When you announce that only 5 minutes remain,

because we have spent time looking into each other’s eyes,

the transition out is somehow bearable.

I have not seen peace among your goals,

But I know that shifting a single piece in a dynamic system

has consequences beyond measure.

And I wish that every soldier in the world could file through your camp.