Carolyn Asnien has worked as a welfare caseworker, teacher on the Navajo Reservation, probation officer, astrologer, substance abuse counselor and hypnotherapist. But she has always been a poet.
In Russia
(Therapy Session)
“In Russia…” he said of his nighttime dream
as his head tilts into a perfect Modigliani oval
“In Russia…”
My own dream last night was of a lover leaving
my heart sinking.
So now my dream looks at his dream
our night images walking back and forth between us
This frigid morning he comes to his appointment
bringing me black sugared coffee
and says he had a bad week
drinking
starting fights
watching porn
because his father died a year ago this January
in Russia
and he needs to let him go
How cold it must have been when his father died
And never before have I thought to picture my own father
as a boy
in Russia
the snow falling…