And the psych ward says
A poem by Anita D.
And the psych ward says,
there is no need to worry.
This asylum was built to help you,
and just like the straps
on the stretcher that you rolled in on,
we are going to keep you safe and secured.
Notice the locked doors and all the cameras,
perched in the corners like hawks.
We will be watching.
But this is all for you and your well-being.
You are sick, anxious, depressed,
a danger to yourself.
The state told us to hold you
for 72 hours but if you sign this paper,
we can pretend your stay here this weekend is voluntary.
Friday morning, you will be woken up by strangers
in white coats and clipboards.
You will be asked again and again and again
about why and how you want to kill yourself.
Be honest.
Remember, you are only here for three days,
so take advantage of the five to ten minutes you have with the doctors,
but understand,
he has a list of patients as long as his pay stubs,
so you won’t be receiving any actual therapy sessions while you’re here,
but we will recommend them as treatment for after we let you out.
Until then, we want you to be comfortable,
so sit back, enjoy the plastic furniture and coloring books.
We have old radios with no antennae,
but the static is still loud enough
to drown out the sound of the woman screaming in 2B.
That’s just Cindy. She just does that sometimes.
Well, she didn’t always but she does now
and until we can find the right medication
we are going to keep helping her,
just like we want to keep helping you
if only you’d let us.
It’s Friday morning and you haven’t even tried the meds yet.
You’re still lying to us about holding the knife
to your arm like your parents haven’t told us everything.
Just be honest and let us help you.
Did I mention that the state only recognizes
the existence of psychiatric patients Monday through Friday,
meaning the past the past forty eight hours
you’ve spent here didn’t even count, meaning,
we still have time for a break-through or a breakdown?
This is a good thing.
This means we still have time to help you
and I can see that you’re getting upset but
do not walk away from me with tears streaming
and knuckles buried in palms.
That type of body language is aggressive
and we might have to do something about that.
A sedative, maybe, Diazepam, perhaps?
I don’t think being alone is best for you right now.
Maybe, you should spend time with the other patients.
Get to know how they got here.
Listen to them when they tell you you got lucky
Getting placed in this psych ward.
We are one of the good ones
and we want you to stay here.
We figure, if we keep you long enough
maybe you’ll eventually start to fit in
or maybe if we keep you locked up
you will eventually start to act out and we will be right here,
waiting to prescribe you something to label you with a diagnosis.
We didn’t cause your social anxiety.
We only heightened what was already there.
We just want to see you reach your full potential as a patient.
We told you,
this asylum was built
to help you.
