conflicted

made uneasy by impulses that travel individually
a San Francisco poem: a front stoop
i had tea; she, coffee
she felt conflicted
sunny day in the Castro
lesbians in the Castro
conflicted, i say, is a pop psychology term
and it presents a usage problem
ew, she said
her distaste for pop psychology
her psychoanalytic training
i ask, is it because pop psychology made a noun into an adjective?
we could agree: it’s fun to mold verbs, nouns, adjectives
what should i have said so as to be without usage problem? she asks
torn? i muse
nope, she asserts
torn implies opposites
the tension is softer
surrender