Thanksgiving Tree

©Davina Dugnas

POETRY FOR INCLUSION

I look out this window
covered with a mint overgrowth
of benevolent gratitude
leaves arcing toward
all comers
extending olive
branches of renewed
abundance
creating
a space for planting
and sowing connection
a space for mending
and restoring health
a space for giving
and praying love
diurnally
and nocturnally
even the swift deer
pause to gaze at
this Thanksgiving tree

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.