Philippine American Writers & Artists

Juliana Seneriches
SONGS ABOUT PSYCHIATRY
The Schizophrenic’s Song
Split Therapy

The Schizophrenic’s Song

The schizophrenic mind
has always been
pure poesy to me.

Gnarled words and pictures
new sounds and structures
stuck words in cadence,
disarray.

Now they’ve taken scans,
some chemistries
that show t’is but receptors,
brain defects,viruses(?),
flawed structures.

Still I say, in front of me
t’is but another mind,
quietly, desperately, hesitantly,
or loudly sharing its songs,

...And I but only sit and
listen to the beat.

Split Therapy*

O how they’ve tampered
with the song!

T’is hard, nay,many times
impossible, to listen to the
cadence and the beat,

When all I am supposed
to do is finely tune
the violins and clarinets.

But how to fix the song
dear God, when I am barred
from hearing all the tunes.

Without my list’ning
to the beat?!

*When, mostly at the dictates of the insurance company, the psychiatrist
is mandated to administer medications only, and a non-medical therapist,
at a lower hourly fee, sees the patient in psychotherapy.

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		Volume III Spring 2005
	Copyright © 2005 Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc.