Honeycrisp Apples

Author(s):

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A psychiatrist reflects on the recent Minneapolis Catholic school shooting.

Sweet young souls
began the day in mass
praying for sustenance and
singing in unison, so that their peace could sprout and their dreams could thrive, during this season of feeling alive.

Their cores had ripened,
with a readiness to sow seeds
of clarity, compassion, and confidence,
whose crispness was a delight
for gardeners(teachers) who
would aid in their becoming and their belonging.

And then……

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Evil shattered the glass of their holy space,
replacing yellow red sweetness with sourness
dappled with shards, infected with the pests
of division and discord.

Now….

The pews of safety mourn the beings devoted
to tasting divine harmony and savoring holy splendor.
Now….

The primary protectors grieve the shiny souls
that once blushed like the skin of their life giving pomes, praying for a renewed season
of growth and change.

Frank A. Clark, MD

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.

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