A Alvarez wrote that ‘happiness writes white on the page.’ It means that when poets write about positive experiences, about happiness, it fails to make an impression on the reader, perhaps because when we read poetry we are seeking answers to questions we can’t answer ourselves – such as the ones we get when encountering difficult, challenging times which affect our mental health. Poetry can’t provide answers but it is similar to when we talk things through with someone else — it provides a link to experiences outside our own. If feelings like shame, guilt, sorrow and others thrive in secrecy and shadows, then reading poems about other people who suffer similar things to ourselves and seeing that reflected back to us can only help to shed light on our own feelings and reduce these negative feelings.
Matthew Olzmann is an American poet, born in Detroit, who writes about a range of subjects and does so with humanity and a way of sharing experiences. He now teaches at Dartmouth College, Massachusetts and is the recipient of many awards including the Kundiman Fellowship (2011) and the National Endowment of the Arts (2021).
Letter to a Bridge Made of Rope By Matthew Olzmann
I don’t trust you. To the shepherd, herding his flock
through the gorge below, it must appear as if I walk
on the sky. I feel like that too: so little between me
and The Fall. But this is how faith works its craft.
One foot set in front of the other, while the wind
rattles the cage of the living, and the rocks down there
cheer every wobble, and your threads keep
this braided business almost intact saying: Don’t worry.
I’ve been here a long time. You’ll make it across.