Ataraxia
Reflecting on the alarming rates of suicide among Black individuals.
pixels_of_life/Adobestock
POETRY FOR INCLUSION
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
The yoke of discrimination is
weighing us down weighing us down
The yoke of discrimination is
weighing us down weighing us down
Despair has become our guise as we walk
through the depressogenic wilderness
wailing O my Lord O my Lord.
The dark thoughts whisper to pill
bottle to take us home.
Black people don’t do that!
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
The relentless stigma bully
perturbs our souls perturbs our souls
The relentless stigma bully
perturbs our souls perturbs our souls.
A couch of lassitude summons us for a
season of isolation wailing O my Lord O my Lord.
The anxiogenic heart searches Google
for lethal injection to take us home.
Black people don’t do that!
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
The palpable pain of injustice screams
“We can’t breathe we can’t breathe”
The palpable pain of injustice screams
“We can’t breathe we can’t breathe”
A barren marginalized tree seeks
companionship and beckons the Black
disturbed psyche wailing O my Lord O my Lord
The oppressed neck utters one last
sigh of hopelessness as the rope tightens
to take us home.
Black people don’t do that!
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmmmmmm.
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 TimesTM.
