Containing

John G. Young, M.D.

 

Like a good therapist, poetry contains feelings

so they can be worked through allowing us

to experience feelings and conflicts safely,

not explaining them away like rationalists,

or suppressing them like poisonous pedagogues,

but holding them to view, allowing us to know,

and come to terms with,

the multiple dimensions of the human experience

through the miracle of metaphor.

 

[cf. Liberating Arts and Sciences written 10 years later during the time of another exacerbation]

Adventures in Creativity