The Forgotten Verb

TanyaJoy/Adobestock

POETRY FOR INCLUSION

A reflection on the verb that can deliquesce the darkness that attempts to assail the hearts of many. Love is that verb, an antidote for the darkness for all of humanity.

The Forgotten Verb

Sidewalks mourn

and concrete

smothered with

incredulity soles of love

replaced with

enmity

Trees of refuge

and strength

wrestling with

selfish nests

a hatching

of egocentric eggs

moral compass

mutated

Hands of

Jekyll dexterity

and grace

morphed into

Hyde keyboard

assassins

a social media

disgrace

Carotids of

free flowing

love met

with novel

turbulence

anemic souls

now ravenous

for polarizing

ice

An ancient verb

yearns to be

Seen

Heard

Touched

Smelled

Sampled

Remembered

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.