This is Episode 40 of Poems to Live Well By.

Today’s poem is "Up", by Margaret Atwood.

You can read the poem here.

Margaret Atwood is a legendary and prolific novelist, essayist, poet and activist from Canada. She has published more than 50 books, including the 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, set in a dystopian future and which has been made into a hugely successful TV series in recent years.

This poem, “Up”, is a very personal account of (in my reading) the experience of anxiety and depression.

It asks — and asks us to ask ourselves — pertinent questions about our present, our past and our future.

As always on this podcast, take this introduction as a jumping-off point. If this poem says something different to you than it says to me, your response is equally valid. 

A poem, as John Cleese says, is to be experienced, not explained. So invite it in, and allow it to speak.

Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | https://onsound.eu/  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com