Deviation

kseniyaomega/Adobestock

POETRY FOR INCLUSION

We were once problems solvers
seeking diverse solutions
Agree to disagree played a healthy
game of tug of war
And bias embraced perspective
with curiosity and growth

We were once critical thinkers
searching for balanced debate
Left and right reflections created
a space for middle-ground peaceful
handshakes
And transparency did not fear its own shadow

It was easy as simple arithmetic
Zero sum game was never part of the equitable equation to live
To learn
To love

But now we are adding
Complexity
Cowardliness
Contradiction

While subtracting
Peace
Prosperity
Promise

And multiplying
Death
Division
Debt

Thus dividing
Faiths
Families
Friendships

An unfortunate deviation from
life’s moral formula.

Join Dr Clark for his presentation "Catharsis Welcomes Creativity: A Poet’s Tale of Exploring Mental Health Through the Arts" on Saturday, May 20, 2023 during the 2023 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting.

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.