Everything is Going to be All Right: Poems for When You Really Need Them | 
"Cry at any given moment.
Your tears are never inappropriate,
never too much,
never embarrassing.
Though it may feel this way,
you will not flood the world
with your grief if you let it out.
You may well drown yourself
If you hold it in."
- from 'How to Say Goodbye' by Dean Atta
I've finished the first chapter, titled "In Spite of Everything, the Stars" from a poem by Edward Hirsch. Two of the poems in this section had me crying: Daniel Cockrill's (pictured) "God I'm in love with the world today", about a parent's all-consuming love of their child, and Roger Robinson's "Grace", about a nurse's fierce love for her patients. All of the other poems are good, but these two particularly resonated for me ?
My initial concern that this book's title may be overly optimistic is addressed in the editor's introduction: "'Everything is Going to be All Right' doesn't mean 'everything will be perfect'. Rather...the poems in this book find a means to celebrate in spite of loss, in spite of conflict and pain."
Funny how out-of-awareness processes manifest, as my last few books have had this "in spite of" theme. Perhaps not unnatural, all things considered ?
Subtitled, "Poems for when you really need them", this is along the lines of William Sieghart's Poetry Pharmacy books. Whilst I feel the main title is overly optimistic ("everything" is a colossal absolute, and "all right" seems a highly subjective quality), nevertheless, a bit of bibliotherapy can provide solace in difficult times. One I'll read next year, I think.
