The Stigma Of Mental Illness Poem by James McLain

Diabetes no problem.
Heart disease no problem.
Lungs, kidneys,
broken bones no problem.
Many here are psychotic.
Many here are bipolar.
Many here have not left their
rooms for months.
Many here think the world revolves
around them.
Yet your glued to your priest
and cop shows on T.V.
Watching the obviously mentally ill
be victimized by those
with out higher learning.
I cannot replenish intelligence
where none is shown.
Poets are the first to burn with
a passion to do what is right.
We all want a cure for cancer except
for the pharmaceutical companies.
When a brain works unpredictably
or on the sidewalks one walks in your
light there it's dark.
When you see them talking to the sky
you drove past or
they are dressed for winter in summer.
Or you find yourself next to him or her.
You please don't hate me for saying
that you remove yourself from their proximity.
The stigma of mental illness is a horrible thing.
Imagine that you would ask someone with no arms
to open a door and hold it open for you.
Now imagine that same person whoms
mind has been damaged from any hundreds of things.
All the great poets whom suicided now
remove all the words that come to your mind.
Massive gaps in literature is all that you find.