Spare Me

There is nothing so unattractive as the stage of development 
you have just left. —Robert Kegan

I can’t listen to tales of husbands who sneer at your art
or writing, who scorn anything that pleases you. Please
don’t report on every guy who replies to your ad
on Match.com. You rush to meet him, learn 

he’s falsified his age and occupation, reveals he’s
fathered three little children in another state. A longer
phone call would have saved you the effort of dressing,
driving, hope fading while you wear a sculpted smile.

Spare me the news of your astrologer, reader, trance
healer, medical intuitive. Don’t quote the guru’s
pronouncements. I can’t bear to hear your willingness
to be cheated by Reiki and light workers, your

distress over the high cost of psychic surgery.
It’s a magic trick, a scam. How quickly we step up 
for the next bamboozle, to be swindled, taken
into the wilderness to be enlightened, lifted up,

only to be picked apart, tortured. Spare me reminders
of my follies in the disco of magical thinking, a fondness
for eloquent words and not watching the speaker’s feet.
There is no cure-all pill, no panacea, no low-cal pancake. 

Joan Mazza worked as a medical microbiologist, psychotherapist, and taught workshops nationally with a focus on understanding dreams and nightmares. She is the author of six books, including “Dreaming Your Real Self” (Penguin/Putnam), and her work has appeared in Italian Americana, Crab Orchard Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner, and The Nation. She lives in rural central Virginia. www.JoanMazza.com

Artwork by Katarzyna Pitek

Katarzyna Pitek was born in 1996 in Myślenice, Poland. Primarily an oil based painter, the creative process of Pitek’s work is based on these key elements: exploration of the subconscious, improvisation, and serendipity, while employing the physicality of paint. Painting is a kind of meditation for her, time to be with herself and her thoughts. Pitek currently lives and works in Toruń.