Up the ANTI-

Up the ante!
Anti-this, Anti-that!

A binary absurdity dividing reality:
Making opposites of us all.

Up the ANTI-
Up the ante!

Standing outside the circle of listeners,
a Venn diagram without overlap
and we are cruel to one another.

Up the ANTI-
Up the ante!

A monstrously unreal Hydra,
where heads are chopped off
blood spills and stains.

[Note: I was an NHS Psychiatrist for 25 years. This poem is a response to the rise of the term “The New Anti-Psychiatry”. This term has become widely used by a number of psychiatrists, often referring to anyone who has questioned the prevailing psychiatric narrative in any way. Unfortunately this divisive use of language has dismissed the opportunity to learn from real world experience of psychiatric interventions, and as such is “anti-science” in itself.]