Troubled

To tell it is impossible a sea crossing on a cardboard tray,
a hike over Nepal in glass shoes I try, speak in damp gusts,
verb spirals in footnotes full
as Christmas trees, bottom trawls and gill nets
with mud in my teeth

To tell love, name attraction catching bats with envelopes

Everyone falls in love with his or her therapist, at least a little. But what happens when the therapist not only loves you back, but also acts upon it?

Troubled is the poetic account of the true story of a patient/psychiatrist relationship gone horribly wrong. With his signature mix of scathing self-analysis and volatile wordplay, RM Vaughan brazenly documents how an innocent flirtation with his therapist escalated into dangerous sexual misadventure. And when the clandestine relationship goes awry, the consequences are heart-rending and career-ending.

Troubled is brutally honest and erotically frank, a no-holds-barred confession that is itself distrustful of the language of confession.

‘Troubled is at once a disturbing Elizabeth Smart–like memoir charting the turns and culs-de-sac of an infatuation and an artful literary revenge. It’s risky as Baked Alaska. What would it be like if all abused patients were endowed with such talent and courage?’ – Don McKay

‘A book by RM Vaughan is worth two by, say, most anyone else.’ – Eye Weekly