There is a repetition

             There is a repetition

to torture.  There is a repetition
to counseling survivors of torture.
There is a repetition to the admin

who are burnt out from the numbers
of survivors of torture.  There is
a repetition of numbness in some

of the therapists who counsel
survivors of torture.  I loved
counseling survivors of torture.

I adored counseling survivors
of torture.  Some of the admin
treated me like a door.  They

treated the job like McDonald’s.
You cannot do that with survivors
of torture.  I noticed that the good

ones would leave.  The poor ones
would stay.  I think of poverty
and survivors of torture.  How

they were housed in polluted,
crime-ridden areas.  How so many
of the survivors of torture would

say that the torture hasn’t stopped.
It is here too.  I left.  I didn’t want to,
but the admin was a train wreck.

They need to be policed.  And I am
skeptical with policing.  I keep
thinking about the repetition.

It keeps repeating.  We have
a fervor for mistakes.  You are not
helping if you are filled with hate.

I remember a survivor of torture dancing
and, behind her, I could see my ‘boss,’
who loved being a ‘boss,’ who loved

power and authority, and I could see her
in the background frowning
when this survivor was dancing.

Yet the ‘boss’ was frowning.
Why?
	       There is a repetition
to counseling survivors of torture.

There is a repetition to the admin
who are burnt out from the numbers
of survivors of torture.  There is

a repetition of numbness in some
of the therapists who counsel
survivors of torture.	It horrifies.

Artwork Courtesy of our featured Artist Hassan Zahreddine