The Danforth Review finds a rare achievement in Troubled

Thought to be transference, poet RM Vaughan opens himself to long for his psychiatrist. The doctor reciprocates. What unfolds in the situation, and Vaughan's poetic account thereof, Troubled, is a heart-wrenching and career-hindering abuse of power. Troubled marries Vaughan's rightful feelings of vengeance with those of a decade-later's forgiveness and will to move forward.

The 70-page volume moves between an opening section of poems, each titled 'Session,' to lists literal and literary ('Harlequin Romance Titles,' 'Three Humiliations, With Outbursts'), from textual excerpts from the author's video work, actual paperwork between the author and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the Canadian Mental Health Association's Code of Ethics to reflections on the hearing where the doctor's license is suspended, the difficulty of having loved this man and the eventual reinstatement of his license.

Vaughan walks into his later-lover's office broken down, afraid of intimacy, exposed. The doctor (referred to in the text as S or Dr. M) meets him in this guard-up state, knowingly, takes in information from their sessions, researches Vaughan outside of the office, lets this be known, 'mark[s] [him] a man' and from there, this real and fabricated closeness, proceeds to manipulate their love affair. Understated in this work is the intricacy with which Vaughan shows his own vulnerabilities, not so much as a victim, but as a lover and, man really. As he pens his daydreams and imaginings pushing way into reality, this is clear. As it is also clear when the doctor, this archetype of man in many ways (successful, fatherly), is learned to be not only ordinary but flawed.

His intellect and realism are uninhibited, starting with spelling out the warning signs and judgments he flags from the get-go (everything from 'Easter colours in September,' page 1, to the way the doctor engages with this teenage daughter) and throughout. It is not a given, but a brave and well-seen-through choice that Vaughan decided to testify in poetic form. In that, Troubled, is reminiscent of Lynn Crosbie’s 2006, book-length poem, Liar.

Vaughan is self-conscious, reflective and aware, his points of reference local and astute (Dufferin Grove, Air Canada, class divides), his voice obstinate and on, even when forced to play the part of the wronged,

I'm a spectre here, a film, gauze and netting....
Told to stay quiet,
Make no sighs, whistles, wolf calls or raspberries
During my day, my docket debut.

Careful of what is said or unsaid, and intentional of even of the construct of the poetry itself, Troubled is a rare case of an author taking on a lot — substance, form, emotionally — and having it not only pan out, but radiate.