Sunday, September 3, 2023 “The Counselor” by Judith Slater
How fortunate to go to a room, a pleasant room
with windows opening on fir trees,
where you and another meet as on a stage,
the other bringing a heart in conflict with itself
which Faulkner said is the worthiest subject.
You sit in a space without intrusion,
your own preoccupations set aside,
so that within the shelter of an hour,
the desires of another can be told, fears
and griefs unveiled, with you intently listening
for what trembles in the bushes, winged
by gunshot, mutely pleading to be helped.
A room with a window through which light falls,
ennobling even the plainest face as the other,
often near the end of the hour, reveals something.
Then you are like two people parting at a station,
one turning at the last minute to say the essential thing.
with windows opening on fir trees,
where you and another meet as on a stage,
the other bringing a heart in conflict with itself
which Faulkner said is the worthiest subject.
You sit in a space without intrusion,
your own preoccupations set aside,
so that within the shelter of an hour,
the desires of another can be told, fears
and griefs unveiled, with you intently listening
for what trembles in the bushes, winged
by gunshot, mutely pleading to be helped.
A room with a window through which light falls,
ennobling even the plainest face as the other,
often near the end of the hour, reveals something.
Then you are like two people parting at a station,
one turning at the last minute to say the essential thing.
About the Poet
Judith Slater is a psychologist in private practice in Buffalo. She is the author of the full-length poetry collection “The Wind Turning Pages” (Outriders Poetry Project, 2011) and “The World Imagined,” a poetic memoir, published in 2018 by Buffalo Arts Publishing. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, Agni, Minnesota Review, and Passager. Three of her poems appeared in Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry weekly feature over its 17 year existence.
Related Event
- On Wednesday, September 6 at 7:30 p.m., Judith Slater will join poet Noah Falck in a Literary Café Series reading at The Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Rd. in Amherst NY. The reading is free and open to the public. The venue is handicap accessible. The CFI Literary Café Series is curated by poet Ryki Zuckerman.
The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.