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Reflections on the impact love and hatred can have on the human psyche.
POETRY FOR INCLUSION
Compassion now has a nemesis
a flummoxed compass directing
antonyms to detour toward hubris
an unfamiliar destination
Love once a Goliath stalwart
ravenous in its pursuit
arcing toward pale vessels
halted by predatory bullets
filled with antipathy
Hades hail storm
engulfs divisive hearts
free hugs and kisses satire
paradoxical umbrellas
soaking impenetrable souls
Red envy venom
covets social networks
fickle clouds reveal plight
terror a new color in the sky
Dinner tables disrupted
Tiny Tim aghast
a toast to meritocracy
clash of fury reverberates
a frenzy to repent
Battle of juxtaposition
angels and demons
dissenting voices salivate
free will a steady pendulum
weighing on humanity
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 TimesTM.