Narrative Poetry: The Worst Case Scenario, by Mark Tulin- LetterPile

A narrative poem about a family therapist’s last case.
— Read on The Worst Case Scenario.

Here’s the revised version of the poem:

To Hell with God and Country
By Mark Tulin

The family that made me quit therapy
had a sister who never came home,
a mother who neglected her young,
an alcoholic father who gambled,
and a delinquent son named John.

Their row home faced a cement square,
around the corner was a convenience store,
a crying baby crawling on a dirty carpet
in need of a diaper change,
and a son who choked his father.

The police were called,
concerned neighbors outside on stoops,
the son was arrested,
and Mom booked a flight to Ohio
to meet an internet lover named Charles.

A family too far gone to salvage.
A strew of DSM diagnoses,
siblings playing war games,
a home in quarantine,
relationships on methamphetamine.

I tried to help, 
but there was no love lost
between a pack of wolves,
a crying shame, no change,
a family went their separate ways,
a group of lives in a chaotic disarray.

To hell with God and Country.
I changed my career path,
taking down my advanced degrees,
my desire to salvage the unsalvageable
had put my sanity in jeopardy.