“Mental health patients waiting for hours,
sometimes days in emergency departments”

wait
in emergency
disoriented, over-anxious or
psychotic –
cope with delayed treatment
overseen by busy, tired
but incapacitated medical staff
unable to assess –
underinvestment

present
in the community
disoriented, over-anxious or
psychotic -
lunge at an underprepared
attending police officer
and expect instantaneous,
full, unqualified attention –
overinvestment

time is not on our side

First published in “New Poets 19” by FSP, 2018