Can poetry aid mental health?

Mental health is a newsworthy topic these days. With depression and anxiety on the upswing, the Buddhist entreaty – “May you be well; may you be happy; may you be peaceful” – is certainly a lofty goal. How can that ambitious outcome be achieved when we all are inundated with political unrest and wars, disease, the death of loved ones or isolation?

During National Poetry Month, which has been celebrated every April since it was launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, K-12 teachers, librarians, publishers and, of course, poets have stressed how poetry can add value to every person’s life. Now, research like that conducted by the University of Plymouth and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council has shown that poetry can aid persons with mental distress.

How, then, might that assistance look?

Sometimes, reading the right poem will connect a person to the circumstance. For example in “The Miscarriage,” written by Linda Wasmer Andrews, the reader’s pain may be eased by the words of the poet. This is the final stanza of that poem:

“Forgive me if I had no words that night

but I was wondering in the silence still

begetting silence whether to console you

if I consoled you it would make the loss

your loss and so we laid beside ourselves

a while because I had no words until

our bodies folded shut our bodies closed

around hope like a book preserving petals

a book we did not open till the morning when

we found hope dry and brittle but intact”

Through the poet’s words, people may discover they are not alone in their situation.

Since the death of my sister’s husband in October, she connects to and finds comfort in reading and rereading portions of the poem “To Those I Love” by Isla Paschal Richardson:

“If I should ever leave you, whom I

love, to go along the silent way,

grieve not, nor speak of me with

tears, but laugh and talk of me as if

I were beside you there. I’d come

I’d come, could I but find a way!”

Sometimes, reading a relatable poem can ease a person’s pain.

A second way poetry can assist the troubled is through the writing of it. Wasmer Andrews writes in an article, “Did writing [‘The Miscarriage’] help me feel better? Absolutely, and that was true from the moment I put it to paper, which was well before I ever showed it to anyone or submitted it for publication. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I was instinctively practicing poetry self-therapy as a means of helping myself grieve.”

For me, writing “The Monster” about my bouts with anxiety forced me to confront the problem and consider how to manage it. Here are a few of my reflections:

“Were you there in my childhood

in my twisted hair,

bitten fingernails,

and bleeding cuticles?

Were you hovering in the hives

that covered my skin

like symbols of sadness

after my husband died?

I’ll give you your due.

You’re scarier than Jason

or the Headless Horseman.

You’re more frightening

than music from ‘Psycho’ or ‘Jaws.’

If I knew where you hang out

during off hours, I’d find a gun

and hunt you down.”

Writing “The Monster” did not eradicate my anxiety, but the words did shine some light on the genesis and nature of it.

Courtney Heeren, literacy coach and sixth-grade teacher at Creekside Middle School in Woodstock, says, “Sometimes, poetry gives students, or people in general, permission to dive into topics they wouldn’t otherwise talk about.” A good example of just such a topic is found in the often-read “Explaining My Depression to My Mother” by Sabrina Benaim. Here are some stanzas:

“Mom, my depression is a shapeshifter.

One day it is as small as a firefly in the palm of a bear,

The next, it’s the bear.

On those days I play dead until the bear leaves me alone.

I call the bad days: ‘the Dark Days.’

Mom says, ‘Try lighting candles.’

---

Mom still doesn’t understand.

Mom! Can’t you see that neither can I?”

Writing poetry can help people move their feelings into their concrete universe.

Another way poetry can help persons with mental health challenges is when they perform at an open mic or coffeehouse with a poem they think might resonate with others. The activity challenges the performers to work through their fears and share their experiences with willing listeners. In her spoken-word rendition (viewed more than 10 million times), Benaim explains her depression over and over to her mother, but her mother is either not hearing or clearly does not understand. However, Benaim’s online and in-house viewers respond enthusiastically to her performance. Through spoken word, participants can be themselves in a safe space where judgment and ridicule are absent.

Currently, a group of poets share their poems at The Other Side in Crystal Lake every third Thursday. They meet to connect, to showcase their work and to allow poetry to spread its healing magic over the audience.

I want to be honest here. Many poets like Tennyson, Philip Larkin, Byron, T.S. Eliot and Sylvia Plath have been labeled as depressed. Also, Emily Dickinson allegedly wrestled with mental illness in her adult life. Although Dickinson used her poetry as a healing tool, unfortunately, she lived in a time when there was no real understanding of mental health. Even today, reading, writing, listening to or performing poetry without other interventions may not be the solution for persons experiencing chronic mental health problems.

However, during National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world, please consider inviting poetry into your space. Doing so won’t cure all that ails the planet or you. But maybe, just maybe, cocooned in a blanket, you will be comforted when you read “Dreams” by Langston Hughes. Then perhaps for some moments, the words or the repetition and rhyme will make you happy, will make you peaceful, or will make you well.

• Jan Bosman of Woodstock taught English and business for 32 years, the last 22 at Johnsburg High School. She also is a published essayist and poet and a member of the Atrocious Poets of McHenry County and the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets.