The Argives Unmedicated by David Penner

And so Antilochus smote Echepolus,
Thrusting a spear into his brain, the Trojan

Gazing at the azure ether, then crashing
Towards the dark; lunging at his foe, Diomedes

Struck Phegeus, planting a lance into his heart,
The white walls breaking, a crimson geyser in

The rain; insensate burning, Menelaus downing
Peisander with a thunderous blow, the lifeless

Body crushed beneath the raging of the charger.
Raising a bloody blade, the son of Telamon

Struck Laodamas with such force that he was
Unsaddled thereon, a phantom roving in the

Shadows, undrawn upon the main; whereon
Patroclus felled Thestor, cleaving his

Helm straight through, the Teucrian’s soul
Thus spent, his eyes spared the

Fallen parapets. And Euryalus slew
Aesepus, and Odysseus Noemon,

Idomeneus Alcathous, and Achilles
Astypylus – and to think they did

All that without any Prozac,
Luvox, or Seroquel

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Mad in America hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. These posts are designed to serve as a public forum for a discussion—broadly speaking—of psychiatry and its treatments. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.

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