Emboldening

Adobestock

POETRY FOR INCLUSION

This is the season to reject othering.
This is the season to discard assuming.
This is the season to forsake pretending.

This is the season, a season worth hate abolishing.

This is the time to unwrap caring.
This is the time to unpack grieving.
This is the time to unveil meaning.

This is the time, a time to reveal healing.

This is the moment to decline judging.
This is the moment to veto shaming.
This is the moment to refuse harming.

This is the moment, a moment that invites growing.

This is the space to reflect forgiving.
This is the space to ponder restoring.
This is the space to mirror affirming.

This is the space, a space that keeps gifting.

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. His most recent book, Positively Haiku: Illustrated Affirmations in 17 Syllables is available at Amazon.