Ode to the 4th
A psychiatrist reflects on the Fourth of July in light of current events....
Stephen Finn/Adobestock
POETRY FOR INCLUSION
Life writes naked poetry bearing vulnerable truths.
Life plays the historic chords of patient forbearance.
Life rewards the listening perspective ear.
Liberty denounces the affirming falsehoods of justice.
Liberty warns against colorblind knees proclaiming neutrality.
Liberty mourns the voracious readers in libraries now shackled by steel chains of hubris.
Happiness is the sfumatura that blends diverse viewpoints.
Happiness is the posture that bends towards freedom’s constitutional promise.
Happiness is the humanity seeking spacious skies of openness.
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.
