What Do You Do

WHAT DO YOU DO? By: Still Water So many approach me And ask me You’re a social worker So what exactly do you DO? I smile then breathe deeply I respond swiftly This is not what I do –sweetie This is what’s in me I was born for this Just took me a while to discover it I’m working to obtain skills And I’m still learning Always learning For now I take shattered mirrors of people And reflect with them What it looks like to be back together again I’m not Humpty Dumpty’s men With work we can get you on track I help my population recognize that Just because you experience life As a broken mirror in a superstitious society Doesn’t mean someone isn’t looking at -Or out for you Not clutching my purse and judging you Looking out- for you. Doesn’t mean What’s in me is easy Who I am Isn’t easy This social work thing Is not easy When shattered mirrors break The first person the pieces cut Is you Emotionally cutting into your psyche In the form of secondary trauma Emotional scars, scabs and fractures Are a mere casualty For me In spite, I find ways to shed light As I Knock on doors I knock down barriers Of Resistance Use systems and cognitive behavioral theory Society, policy and history All in me All my clients see is me I use my senses Listen actively with my eyes Empathetic so I won’t cry My ears hear your story Help you hear your own glory Smell the hopelessness Taste your life in a moment Touch where it hurts, your emotions Use my senses for assessment Meeting you where you’re at I adapt The adaptation of a chameleon The flexibility of a gymnast Helping to exhort the masses For my clients causes In the form of advocacy I’m helping to contort cognitive distortions individually Or as a cohort I do this and more Yet my tools are not Tangible Not in your hand Very heavy to handle They are nothing you can see I don’t work as a social worker Social work is in me.