Home » Poems » Caren Krutsinger » I Am the Master At Fooling You

I Am the Master At Fooling You

I let you see who you want me to be.
You give me that look, which tells me I’m doing great.
You are fooled into sharing your deep secrets.
Because I look like that kind of listener.
I am not, but I want you to think I am.

You are so grateful to my fake listening eyes
That you spill your guts into my lap
I covertly shake them out onto the floor
And stomp them thoroughly but secretly
So you keep talking, thinking that I care.
I am a master at not sharing any of my real self.

I was taught years ago that people take their cue from your eyes.
“The windows of the soul” some say.
Mine are on auto-pilot, slammed shut.
The hurricane shutters are tighter than those you buy at Home Depot.
But you look into them and you are completely fooled.
I am the master at showing you a false me whom you readily believe.
Saving the real me for someone who has never arrived.

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Jennifer Proxenos

Date: 5/17/2021 10:49:00 AM

Hi Caren as a teacher you have to listen to pupils problems and I can imagine you doing this well. You might want us to think that you don't care, but your eyes on your webpage say it differently, that your soul is warm and loving! And that someone who has not yet arrived, knows the same as I think ! Hugs and blessiwngs, Jennifer. i

Caren Krutsinger
Date: 5/17/2021 11:54:00 PM

Thank you Jennifer. I do care, but sometimes what they tell me is so painful to hear, I have to check out, as I am a school counselor for elementary and they have been through so much trauma!

L Milton Hankins

Date: 5/17/2021 10:11:00 AM

Ah Caren, do I sense a bit of burn-out here? My wife was a counselor, so I can relate to what you are saying. Sometimes she stayed in bed all weekend recuperating so she could face another week. No one really understands what a counselor lives every single day!

Caren Krutsinger
Date: 5/17/2021 11:54:00 PM

I have to paint and poet my way through the weekend so I can face Mondays. I know I will love it - every day a new adventure, but some things are painful, and a counselor is not allowed to "talk about it".