Jump Start by Jyl Anais

The professionals act like

the theft of half my life was

no

.       big

.                  deal

because

they didn’t mean to.

In a cloak of benevolence

under the guise of medicine

/ help / undercover

and POOF!

almost twenty years

gone

.       just

.                  like

that.

My anger

no longer a symptom once

I left the reservation.

 

So, now what?

I challenge their ideas

and practices,

me with my brain still just in tact enough

to recollect.

Me, with anger enlivening my eyes

while I sit in their waiting rooms

like a threat.

 

They try and calm me

with kindness

they bill for and

take notes about

except I’m not in confession

anymore.

I know this is

not

.          my

.                      church.

I’ve got to jump start my life

again like I’ve had to

before,

and begin

.             again,

.                      and again,

.         and again.

*****

Back to Poetry

***

Mad in America hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. These posts are designed to serve as a public forum for a discussion—broadly speaking—of psychiatry and its treatments. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.