How to Reach Hutch?: Poetry-Therapy in Five Acts

I closed my recent “Resiliency Poetry” piece, “The Four Faces of Anger:  A Poetic Paradigm,” with the following lines:

And for the next “Resiliency Rap”

The Stress Doc ™ will draw a disarming map
To defuse a hostile or enraged time bomb
With “purposeful passion” and some aplomb!
(Email stressdoc@aol.com for the entire verse.)

Well, here’s your map.  Actually, I think we are exploring new ground:  “Poetry-Therapy” in a theatrical context.  I liken it to a two-person poetic play in five mini-acts.  (It’s a far cry from the reams of case/process recording I labored over in graduate school and my first year at a family agency.)  Would love any and all feedback.  Best wishes and inner vision.  Mark

How to Reach Hutch?:  Poetry-Therapy in Five Acts

Act I:  Setting the Crime Scene

Hutch walked through the door…

“Why am I here?”
A square-set jaw
Face framed by a sneer.

His wife on the brink:
“Get your head straight
Go see this shrink
And maybe I’ll wait.”

For this trouble shooter
Had problems at work
Now working under
A real hostile “jerk!”

The “jerk” ran a unit

Seemed to be sinking
There was more to it –
Real trouble with drinking.

The company head

Alas, much too loyal
“Hutch, just stop the bleed”…
Big boss in denial.

For the “jerk,” no doubt
Hutch was a threat.
So he cursed Hutch out
“A damn pain in my neck!”

Act II:  “The Poetic Scream”

Red-faced Hutch, of course

Would not let the “jerk” win
Or admit the obvious:
“He’s under my skin.”

Hutch just kept on bitchin

Unfairly put down.
A volcano was building
Where was the real wound?

My rumbling frustration

With Hutch’s blind rage…
Could I get his attention?
Find a common page?

My play for control

Had a touch of stealth:
“Why does this injured soul
Define your sense of ‘self’?”

For the very first time

Hutch snapped from his trance:
Was he a partner in crime
In a dysfunctional dance?

Session over…a hard stare

But we opened a crack
With TLC:  Tough Loving Care
I knew Hutch would be back.

Act III:  A Vivid Dream

Now through the door

An all too smug grin
A bit too self-assured
How would he begin?

Hutch had found “the answer” –

Echoes inside his memory drum.
The “jerk” was in diapers
Throwing a tantrum, sucking his thumb!

Hutch was no longer chafing

Riding his quarter-moon smirk.
For all day he was laughing
Behind the back of the “jerk.”

Being passive-aggressive

Gave Hutch some control
But this path…self-destructive
Would lead to his downfall.

I had to take action

Be the bump in the road
Deflate self-satisfaction
It’s in my therapy code.

Now call me defiant

To Hutch’s sun, I’m the dark moon.
You must not let a client
Feel good for too long…
Or feel too good too soon.  ;-)

Act IV:  Not What it Seems

So my challenge to Hutch:

“I see…you’ve found a cure
Thank you very much
But it’s a tad premature.”

“Glad you don’t feel the victim

Perhaps you’ve evened the score.
Still, I have one question:
When have you known such rage before?”

For all that “jerk” sound and fury

Was out of proportion
To your own mind’s judge and jury…
Where lies the distortion?

Hutch now asked, “What are you doing

To my head with this whack?”
My reply: “Just some ungluing”…
We must begin to look back.”

Finally, Hutch understood

Family was the key
To embrace real mind and mood
To make heart and soul free.

He began to recall

Bitter fights between parents.
Pushed against the wall…
Let loose dad’s alcohol rants.

His eyes began to water

Hutch tried looking away
On the verge…on the border…
“Let’s call it a day.”

Act V:  A New Scene and Scheme

Now into the office

A less edgy sober man
No longer hard surface
Hutch softly began.

The “jerk,” truth be known

Not the primary issue.
Hutch might still pick a bone…but
Now gleaned connective tissue.

Old family dynamics

Playing out at work
Blowing up the tragic
Blindly blaming the “jerk.”

But there was still more

An additional tangle…
Knocking on the boss’ door:
No more “office triangle.”

Hutch had been too proud

To admit to the boss
To declare out loud:
“I am at a loss.”

“He is not a ‘jerk’

Just a man who is ill
I can’t make it work
Without proper help…it never will!?

Not sure the conclusion

Hutch was ready to fly
Without any illusions
A most heartfelt good-bye:
A lasting bridge…inner eye-to-eye!

© Mark Gorkin  2015

Shrink Rap ™ Productions
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Mark Gorkin, MSW, LICSW, "The Stress Doc" ™, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, is a national keynote and webinar speaker and "Motivational Humorist & Team Communication Catalyst" known for his interactive, inspiring and FUN programs for both government agencies and major corporations.  The Doc is a training and Stress Resilience Consultant for The Hays Companies, an international corporate insurance and wellness brokerage group.  He has also led “Resilience, Team Building and Humor” programs for various branches of the Armed Services.  Mark, a former Stress and Violence Prevention Consultant for the US Postal Service, is the author of Resiliency Rap, Practice Safe Stress, and of The Four Faces of Anger.  See his award-winning, USA Today Online "HotSite" – www.stressdoc.com – called a "workplace resource" by National Public Radio (NPR).  For more info on the Doc's "Practice Safe Stress" programs or to receive his free e-newsletter, email stressdoc@aol.com or call 301-875-2567.