I wrote a series of eight poems over a year and a half period when I worked with at-risk young fathers as a home visitation case manager and parent educator. The first (“Linea”) is published today, and others will follow.
Eight weeks prior to starting this job I become a young father myself, and I found what is referred to in clinical circles as “counter-transference” to be a powerful dynamic between my and my clients. In other words, the powerful personal connections between what the young men were struggling with and my own experiences as a father were constant themes needing exposition.
The other social workers I worked with also found themselves in unusual positions of trust after years building relationships in the office, community and home. The attachment from parent to child to social worker became so strong through the momentous events of pregnancy, birth and new parenthood that one of my coworkers was even asked be present and cut the cord at her client’s birth. I found poetry to be the best way to process not only the emotional dynamics of my own experiences, but of my co-workers as well. The sad conclusion to this job occurred in my last few weeks of work when one of my clients, high on methamphetamine, took his own life. His daughter was two years old.
Brother Maria Anthony Serval
of the Franciscan oblates of peace and justice
works among poor and marginalized communities in Denver
