This is poetry moment on WPSU – a weekly program featuring the work of contemporary Pennsylvania poets. Your host is poet and author Marjorie Maddox, a 2023 Monson Arts Fellow, and professor of English and creative writing at the Lock Haven campus of Commonwealth University.
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If you’ve ever suffered a panic attack, you’re not alone. According to the Cleveland Clinic, each year approximately 11% of Americans experience such sudden and frightening attacks. Today’s poet examines the coping mechanism that works best for him.
Gary Fincke has published fourteen collections of poems, including books that won what is now the Wheeler Prize (Ohio State), the Arkansas Prize, the Jacar Press Prize, the Stephen F. Austin Prize, and the Wheelbarrow Books Prize (Michigan State), where “Distraction Therapy” appeared. His collections of short fiction and personal essays have won the Flannery O’Connor Prize, the Elixir Press Prize, and the Robert C. Jones Prize. He grew up in Pittsburgh and recently retired from Susquehanna University where he directed the Writers Institute and served as the Charles Degenstein Professor of Creative Writing.
Trembling. Chills. Hyperventilation. Racing Heart. Terror. These are just some of the alarming symptoms of panic attacks. Author and poet Gary Fincke explains, “As someone who has been prone to panic attacks most of my adult life, even to the point of emergency room visits, I’m fascinated by the ways of relief for them. Happily, I’ve discovered, through trial and error, “therapies” that have worked well for me.”
Here’s Gary Fincke’s moving poem, “Distraction Therapy”
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To manage fear, start anywhere
and count backwards by threes and eights.
Or multiply—the times tables
can soothe the heart. To slow breathing,
tap your feet. Do knee bends. If you
hum melodies, you will believe
you’re dancing. To stop panic,
try anagrams or spell the names
for where you are. Find all the words
within them. Keep track of your score.
To break anxiety, focus
on something far in front of you.
Walk toward it, totaling your steps.
To resist the next bad moment,
press one hand into the other.
To handle the next after that,
grip them tight and begin to pull.
The hands are antidotes. Pit left
against the right. Feel that? Each time
you fight yourself, you smother fear.
To keep from dying, remember
the times you’ve survived. That list holds
all the terrors you imagine.
Read them aloud. Then breathe. Then breathe.
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That was “Distraction Therapy” by Gary Fincke.
Listen for Poetry Moment with Marjorie Maddox Mondays during Morning Edition and All Things Considered on WPSU. You can more episodes at wpsu.org/poetrymoment.
Our theme music is by Eric Ian Farmer.
