Seasoned Pistachio

close up hand holding seed plant planting growing plants in nature, Generative ai/khwanchai/Adobestock

POETRY FOR INCLUSION

Day in and day out I witness adaptability
Morning, noon, and evening her caramel
Exterior shifts from durable to pliable
And only maternal and paternal raindrop
Tears can deliquesce her protective shell
Day in and day out her transformation goes nuts
Requiring patience
And sometimes resistance
But always the hands of
love and gentleness
Day in and day out her growth requires risks to embrace novelty
A co-ingestion of two essential nutrients
She is like a seasoned pistachio
Inviting well-meaning, well intended
Fingers seeking to unshell the
Core meaning of life’s
sustenances

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.