“There is power and strength in optimism

To have faith and to stay true to yourself

Because if you can look in the mirror

And have belief and promise you

Will share wonder in living things

Beauty, dreams, books and art

Love your neighbour and be kind

And have an open heart

Then you’re already winning at living

You speak up, you show up and stand tall

It’s silence that is complicit

It’s apathy that hurts us all.”

Salenna Godden, from Pessimism is for Lightweights

Some poems ring so true in their simplicity to be utterly necessary, like the air we breathe. This poem by Salenna Godden came to me in a dark time of my life, when nothing seemed to matter anymore. Though I’ve never stopped writing my new novel (more to come on that), I’ve struggled with the idea of pinning down some thoughts on the writing process, the books I feel connected to, my place in the universe, something I could share and put here for others to see and ponder on.

The fact is, these are dark times indeed for everybody: death, war, floods, pollution, recession, nothing seems to bear the promise of change and empowerment we were accustomed to in the pre-Covid era. Psychological lockdown mixed with a rise in nationalism has turned the world into a ticking bomb and people into apathetic shells wearing masks and feeling nothing. Yet, this poem taught me how giving in to despair cannot be the solution, because it would only get things worse. I believe we have a moral obligation in being optimistic in life as well as art: creating new paths, dreaming new worlds, so that our world can be a better place, our path be a shining trail of moons and stars never failing to amaze and to persist, to build instead of crumbling and fading.