Every year, the end of August
There’s a cry across the nation
A collective "omigod"
As all the shrinks go on vacation
How could they leave us hanging
After all that we’ve been through?
How could they dare suggest
They might have better things to do?

I traditionally fall victim
To this end of year distress
But after years with the same therapist

She knows me well, I guess
And because she knows how hard

It sometimes is for me to cope
In ending our last session
She gave me an envelope

She said, "Here is an exercise

I’d like you to complete
I’ve prepared it for the session that

We’ll miss this coming week
So at our regularly scheduled hour

If your thoughts have got you down
This hopefully will help you feel
Just like I’m still in town."

So half past three on Sunday

I sat down beside my desk
Read through the words she’d written

And tried filling in the rest:

An adjective thing happened to me

In name of a place
When my family member, past-tense verb
And said, right to my face
Exclamation, said family member
You are really adjective
I stood there verb, in "ing" form

For the best response to give

It was difficult to know
Whether to verb or let it pass
When everything inside me
Said to verb him in the body part
It brought out all the feeling
I’d experienced as a noun
But I handled it adverb
Doc I know you’d be so proud

Here’s a visualization
To help me verb the noun away
I am at name of a place
On a bright, adjective day
Male celebrity is with me
We share an adjective gaze
Now I’ll hold that feeling with me
‘Till you’re back in number days

I worked through this assignment

Crossing "T"s and dotting "I"s
When a realization surfaced
And it caught me by surprise
This is more than just a method
To survive my shrink’s vacation
It’s a Madlib – getting mad’s
A form of psychic liberation!

So I flipped that paper over
And I let my feelings flow
Even though you’re on vacation, Doc,

There’s something you should know

You’re probably verb, in "ing" form

On the name of cruise ship line
Or gazing at the plural noun
As you sip some price range wine
But that Madlib verb in past tense
To some feelings deep and true
So I say verb it, time to give
Some noun where noun is due

That exercise in noun
Was a professional disgrace
If the AMA found out
You’d have cooked food upon your face
I know you have a noun from
Third-class junior college State
Is this what made you think
That you are worth your hourly rate?

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned
Over the course of therapy
It’s that my problems stem
From unexpressed hostility
So dig out malpractice policy
By which you are insured
But don’t wait for me on Sunday – After this,

I think I’m cured.