Why I Left Academe for Massage Therapy

Through touch I can say never mind our thoughts; I can say

by feeling we already know without hesitation

Through touch I can hear myself think with admiration

for the hallux and the spine

extol latissimus dorsi because it sounds like a charm

My days like my nights offer nothing for vexation

when weary I stretch or sleep between sessions

hungry I eat without heartache; I work for and by myself

through touch I earn more

Projects have stopped disappearing unlike the reading series

I am never met with apathy from others through touch

I can almost stop hearing the director admonish

I cannot support this; you just got married; you’ll get pregnant

soon; through touch I stopped giving up my work

to the ones with seniority

called off the excuse for what must fail

to be content as patted snow

as the dogwood as the crow crying out

from distant fields filled with cottonwood

seeds adrift in this channel of late growth

and tender light