Bri's Mental Health Arrests …[ True! ! ; Suicide; Medium Length; Personal] Poem by Bri Edwards
Bri's Mental Health Arrests …[ True! ! ; Suicide; Medium Length; Personal]
Twice I was "mental-health arrest"-ed,
‘bout fifteen years ago.
It was like: "The System" I had tested,
and "The System" ‘acted' FAST, not SLOW.
[But NOT properly, in Bri's opinion! ]
I lived then in New York State.
I was a window clerk**.
I'd thought suicide could be my fate;
I said as much, like a ‘jerk'.
But I was NOT a jerk. Perhaps a bit depressed,
but I'd never ‘threatened',
nor tried, to kill myself. My mind was NOT messed ….
up! ! I'd mentioned …..
….that perhaps suicide would be the way I'd die.
I believe it still NOW.
I believed it then. It was not at all a lie.
BUT ‘The Law' did not "allow" ….
me to say it, though "that" was not quite true.
The cops*** went overboard.
The boys and girls in uniform, blue.
Perhaps, back then, the cops too were BORED? ?
I was NOT jailed, photographed, or searched,
but handcuffs hurt me, …..
when, on trip to hospital, ambulance lurched.
At least I wasn't charged a fee …..
…..for all the attention I got, and even food, ….
the FIRST time it did happen!
BUT I was strapped down for a while. It was quite rude!
And there were threats****, …….but no slappin'.
The first time I was ‘single'. My stay was overnight.
Both times arrested while at work! !
Like the police, I too had on a uniform. That's right.
And I too got paid: a perk!
A few years later I was married, …..yet again,
and I'd READ***** the law.
The law talked of "imminent" danger, but ….WHEN ….
was THAT! ? There was a flaw …….
….in "The System". "The police overstepped the law."
My ‘last arrest' was SHORT.
I got no food, but NO hospital guys, at me, did claw!
Very soon it did abort.
I can support a law to promote public safety,
but, in fact, I was abused.
The law was abused also. I believe the cops were hasty,
abridging rights of ME, ‘the accused'.
(September 29th 2017)
Ha ha.
bri ;)
ok, not a laughing matter! !
p.s.
** window clerk: selling stamps and other postal services from behind a counter at a post office
*** cops: police officers
**** threats: I was placed in a small 'private' room in a hospital emergency room, and I was told to remove all my clothes (except my underwear) and put them in a plastic bag (provided) . I began to get undressed and then decided to go to the nurse's station to complain.
On my way there, I passed by a man outside my door and before I got much farther I was physically swept back into my room by four or five men and pressed against the wall while sort of seated on my 'bed'.
[[I was told later that I had bumped the 'guard' on my way to complain. I don't believe I touched the guy or even knew he was 'guarding' me.]]
One man held a thumb (mine) backward just enough for me to know I didn't want him to press it farther. Another held a hypodermic syringe/needle aloft, pointing towards me. I was 'saved' when the 'pretty nurse' (female) came into my room and called them off. But I was then strapped to my 'bed' for a couple of hours or so. Several people spoke to me about why I was in the hospital and I was fed and spent the night and released the next day. But I think, when I left, I was missing something which I'd left in the 'plastic bag', which supposedly was secured for me.
***** READ the law: I found a set of volumes of New York State laws in my local library.
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i KNEW i'd typed up something like the above before. i 'misplaced' it but now i've found it and shall put it into a comment on this poem.
bri ;)
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p.s. i'm retired, moved to California, remarried, and life is tolerable at the moment. i DO need more ice cream. i'm enjoying PH and some of the nice people on it and some good poems 'to boot'.
:) :)
We, the Undersigned: Oppose any further thoughts of suicide by said Bri Edwards, AKA Witty-ker. (Although we approve of suicidal thoughts by a certain resident of the White House.) Suicide by said Bri Edwards, AKA Witty-ker, would have a disastrous effect on us. Signed, The American Pizza Institute The National Association of Ice Cream Manufacturers
A serious and controversial topic as suicide dealt with a great sense of humor makes an interesting story. I glanced it in your poet notes but only read fully now. Thanks Bri.
this is almost the same information as i gave in my Poet's Notes: **a post office (USPS) employee at a customer counter ***police officers ****When I tried to protest having to remove all of my clothes except my underwear, I was accused of pushing a guard(?) outside my little private room in the ‘Emergency Room’. VERY QUICKLY I found myself on my ‘bed’, my back pressed up against the wall, and about five male ‘attendants’ confronting me, one with one of my thumb bent backward [just enough to be a deterrent in case I tried to move], and one holding a hypodermic syringe in a threatening manner. THEN the ‘attractive female nurse’ came in and shooed them all out. Hee-hee. It was INTERESTING and I approved of what they did. after all, we ‘nut cases’ can NOT be trusted. But I was ‘amused’ when I was left alone at first in the room with the door shut, to get undressed, and found a serrated plastic knife on the floor of my room. More hee-hees. So much for protecting the ‘patient’ from himself! ! *****in a local library in a volume of New York State laws bri ;)
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/11/2024 1:58:57 PM # 1.0.0.1119
You certainly have a story to tell! Funny, crazy, mad and a little sad. Plenty of Police that over exaggerate their power. Glad you lived to tell the tale.