An Ode to Two North Psych Unit

(note: I originally wrote this piece years ago, after my first stay in a psych ward in Medford, Oregon, USA, which followed a rough stay in a jail)



This place isn't exactly heaven:
each guest may seem mad or broken
and soon goes home or roaming
not exactly fixed

But there's understanding
and safety,
and the cuisine is healthy
delicious, and free

And amid the "lunatics,"
there are beautiful eccentrics
(oft within the same person
or brought out by group interaction) :
humans of unusual compassion
energy or creativity

Amid the occasionally terrible din,
one can oft hear
mortal angels singing

Oft dressed like bright butterflies,
they fly their rounds
dispensing hope and meds
and gingerly binding broken wings