My trainer says

Often people come to me and we have an amazing amount in common.  I often wonder how they found me. Then there are those who come to me and I am made aware of things I never knew before.  I think the back pain has been brewing for a couple weeks, but I had learned to ignore it.  Keep walking, the trainer says, Keep walking.  So I am.  So I do.   Sometimes these things happen.

I do not need vicarious back pain

To realize back spasms

Hurt.

I sit with my client

Perched

On the edge

Of her chair.

I awaken

Day two

With back pain.

I am the frozen shoulder girl.

I have a wonky brain.

It registers barometric shifts.

I do not need vicarious back pain.

There are other things

On the resume.

I offer a wealth of experience

From A to Z.

I have not chosen to list

Expertise

In lower back pain.

My trainer says

Sometimes these things happen.
Keep walking.

I meant to call you

I like to learn new things, new perspectives, new translations.  This does not mean that I need to do everything myself.  My beloved tells me it is possible to live some things vicariously.  I remember that I used to be a Vicar in a small parish.  It sounded quaint and rather British.  Now I am without such a title.  I have added more letters after my name since then.  And now, six years out, I consider dropping letters. I am no longer a vicar, but I consider the possibility of living some things vicariously.

Workshop upon workshop,

Training upon training,

The letters string after my name.

I learn good things

From each.

I also learn

What I do not wish to do.

It is possible

He says

To live some things vicariously,

To learn things

From others

Without doing them

Yourself.

At lunch last week

A friend said

I meant to call you

When I heard you were involved

In one more training;

I should have called you

And said

Whatever are you doing?

Ah perhaps she should have called.

Perhaps

I may have listened.

Perhaps.

Me and the cat

I am enjoying the sun from a different place.  Jeff tells me I need to learn the word vicarious.  So I am learning how to vicariously enjoy the sun this morning, watching the cat, sprawled in the morning sun coming in through the window.  

It*s me and the cat.

He has found the morning sun.

Light reflects white whiskers,

Eyes slit in morning doze

Speckled belly like a trout.

I write in the shade,

Watch him

From the blue recliner,

Drink one more cup of coffee.

Me and the cat.

He sleeps for me in the sun.

Trout belly

Paws curled

Completely relaxed

In the morning sun,

Except for the occasional

Flick of his tail.