EPISODE 13: Brooke tastes the apple

A love expert's love life inspires a poem that just might become a lifelong companion. In this intimate exchange conducted over the course of ten months, Brooke brings us along on the roller coaster of her dating life, all the while attempting to locate the heart of the problem. Todd finds the soul of it. 

TODD SAYS

I know a lot of extraordinary people who can't seem to find a soul mate, and my heart goes out to them. After all, it's only by chance, and late in life, that I myself met someone I could truly love, and be loved by. The search for that magic combination of trust and kindness and compatibility, when it's fruitless, can be an all-consuming source of pain and frustration.

As a relationship therapist, Brooke comes to her romantic entanglements with more tools than most, and you'd think that would tip the odds in her favor, but there's more to it than that.

This special episode, compiled from interviews conducted over ten months of ups and downs, is available here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The poem

Accompany Me

Accompany me, says the soloist, with nothing but a nod 

to the pianist, who nods in turn and reverently begins. 

Accompany me, hands say that mirror one another 

in namaste, and here I am, and here I am, they answer. 

Accompany me, we cry in prayer, no matter what we’re 

praying for, don’t leave me here, don’t let me die alone. 

Accompany us, say poetries, philosophies, the sciences, 

the honeybees’ debaucheries, the witcheries of flowers. 

Accompany me, your soul into your heart’s chambers calls, 

above all, stroll with me through these halls, your halls, ours.