A Psychiatrist's Reflections on the Situation in Ukraine

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POETRY FOR INCLUSION

Sunflower Soldiers

Sapient sacred seeds

sown in the hearts of

the young and the old

Solidarity yields a universal

blue and yellow fist

A peaceful disruptor

of red, white, dark blue contagion

Yellow seeds of ammunition

arc toward justice and peace

A perilous tank occluded with

sunflowers sprouting serenity

A menacing dictator’s worse migraine

Democratic sunflower

and autocratic chamomile

An enduring battle

of good and evil

Hankering for humanity

life’s sacred weapon

Inter-generational resilient germinators

Succorers of many

Spreaders of love

Soldiers of freedom’s harvest

Dr Clark is an outpatient psychiatrist at Prisma Health-Upstate and clinical associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Greenville. He served on the American Psychiatric Association’s Task Force to Address Structural Racism Throughout Psychiatry, and he currently serves as the Diversity and Inclusion section editor and advisory board member for Psychiatric Times^TM.