Book review - Pessimism is for lightweights
Plus get your vote in for our June book club choice
Last month (actually it was March but let’s just skim past that fact) our Poetry Book Club choice was Pessimism is for Lightweights by Selina Godden.
Now I loved this book and would happily waffle on about it but you hear from me a lot so I was THRILLED when one of our community
offered to write us a book review. This is something I think would work beautifully going forward so if you are a paid subscriber and fancy going next then just let me know (you might want to wait and see what next month’s choice is first, I’ve put a poll further down this post).Anyway, over to Mamie…
Hello,
I was intrigued by the title and drawn in by the first poem called ‘hope’. I found this book difficult to put down and even more so not to read them aloud to others who were around. ‘Oh this is a good one and this one and this.’ I love it that this book starts with the invitation for hope and to hope. So let me do the same.
Salena Godden
Welcome to Hope
Here's your map, she says
This is where you always are
See here, the mountains of vivid life
Make a boat of books, read them all
Sail down this mighty dream river
Through forests of wonder
Look how the trees grow ever good
How the sky holds its own
Nature is so loud in her gardening
Your soul is your compass
Kindness isn't at the border
Caring is not the city
But change is in the wind
And wild is the weather
Home is a feeling
And now is where we are
She nudges me awake
Welcome to Hope
She sings, welcome to Hope
Get up! Get up! Get up!
Hope is here and it knows we have so much to do.
The picture language she uses is so evocative it fuels my imagination. It feels like she is painting a picture and each line is another paint stroke. I love that each line feels like an idea all of its own, I could just sit and ponder line by line for hours on end.
This poem to me feels like a hug from a mentor or guide. Setting you back on your feet, turning the map the right way round and pointing you back in the right direction. This world we live in at the moment is exhausting and we are fatigued in so many areas: body, mind, spirit, compassion and in volunteering. This book takes you on a journey, you feel so many different emotions: joy, hope, sadness, anger. Plus there are so many different topics, some I never thought I would read in a poem, encouraging me to go and have a smear test and in the best possible way get over myself with, a ‘gentle reminder:’
For me this book is a rallying cry to be more human, to recognise womanhood as a strength and a call to unify and stand together. Salena Godden puts into words thoughts and feelings that I have had that have been too fleeting to grab. She has a strong sense of who she is, she is a warrior for justice and her weapons are her words. Boy was it a book that made me think. It reminds me that I am connected to people and that I have a place in the world. And you can write about absolutely ANYTHING.
In these days of there being so much injustice, so much to fight for and against, I was done until I read these poems. They stirred my heart, invited me back to myself, my people and to issues close to me. It can feel so overwhelming to care, to take a stand but I realised that in my own small way I can make a difference. I can lend my hope and courage to a friend who is going through a health crisis. I can sign a petition for better treatment for people with m.e. I can stand with the lonely, mistreated who are facing discrimination. I can start with those who are already in my life.
And the thing about this book is that it didn't just start with hope, it ended with hope in the title poem ‘Pessimism for Lightweights.’ If you haven’t come across her work, I’d heartily encourage you to watch her perform it on YouTube. I think it would make a lovely gift too.
If you are tired and jaded and would like a good dose of hope please read this, it was medicine to my soul.
If you have read her work, which poem or poems stuck with you? Which poem do you want to read aloud to someone? How have these poems made you feel? What have they made you think about? Is there a subject that you never heard in a poem that you think should be?
Thank you so much
(you can find Mamie’s Substack here) for this brilliant review and these questions. Argh, I want to answer all of them immediately, I’m heading to the comments.But before that, where shall we head next?