You Found Your Home There

Narrative MattersCommunity Voices Health AffairsVol. 44, No. 9: Insights About The Opioid Crisis You Found Your Home ThereCari Ann Fisher AffiliationsCari Ann Fisher ([email protected]) is a health information management quality analyst at University of Florida Health, in St. Augustine, Florida. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute this work provided the original work is properly cited, not altered, and not used for commercial purposes. See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. To access the author's disclosures, click on the Details tab of the article online.PUBLISHED:September 2025Open Accesshttps://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.00447AboutSectionsView articleSupplemental MaterialView PDFPermissions ShareShare onFacebookXLinked InRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsDownload Exhibits View articleTOPICSOpioid use disorderSubstance useYou found your home thereWith the weedsAnd the rocksYou found your people,Yourself, you thought.You found the sickness had a nameIt has a name and a voiceIt has a presence and a goalBut you've alwaysHad the choice.I found you thereIn that place you chose to stayThe fire gone from your eyesThe others, many othersSo close but far away.The painYou choseThe lifeYou wastedTime marches steadily onAnd onYou, as if a statueIn that home you found yourselfA portent, a warningA lesson. A moral. Immoral.They flew—how they flew!We flew. We thought we knew.All of our will, all of our desiresThoughts dreams feelings—criesSucked into a void(That place you chose to stay, with the rocks. And the weeds. With the pain and the stigma that derides and cleaves.)That void you call a heart or a body or a homeThat void you call yourselfIt is you and you alone.Initially: a choice.Presently: no chance. No chance for change, damaged goods. Stay in your hovel, for the world does not want you. I found you there.I found you there, and there you will stay. Loading Comments... Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. DetailsExhibitsReferencesRelated Supplemental Materials Article Metrics History Published online 2 September 2025 InformationThis open access article is distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.PDF downloadRelated articlesThe Opioid Crisis: Scaling Up Treatment And Harm Reduction Programs To Reach More People Who Would Benefit02 Sep 2025Health Affairs