Origami Bridges: Poems of Psychoanalysis and Fire

by Diane Ackerman

The author of twenty celebrated books of poetry and nonfiction, Diane Ackerman offers a new collection of masterfully crafted poems with an unusual focus. At the heart of Origami Bridges is the delicate relationship of trust between analyst and patient, a relationship that grows out of the emotional give-and-take of the psychoanalytic process. In this collection, Diane Ackerman, with astonishing candor, lays bare her desires, anger, jealousy, fears, and anxiety as she probes not only her psychic landscape but also her past. And what gradually rises to the surface is an understanding of how the poet uses verse to purge her demons, express her delight, or confess secret longing, and through this process come to a better understanding of the self. Ackerman's energy and passion are everywhere in evidence, and "she makes the task of putting words to the wordless seem effortless" [ Manchester Journal ]. Exuberant, lyrical, these are deeply felt poems about life and one of its most important relationships. This collection is Diane Ackerman at the height of her powers as a poet.

Genres: Poetry

147 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Diane Ackerman has been the finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction in addition to many other awards and recognitions for her work, which include the bestsellers The Zookeeper’s Wife and A Natural History of the Senses.

The Zookeeper’s Wife, a little known true story of WWII, became a New York Times bestseller, and received the Orion Book Award, which honored it as, "a groundbreaking work of nonfiction." A movie of The Zookeeper’s Wife, starring Jessica Chastain and Daniel Brühl, releases in theaters March 31st, 2017 from Focus Features.

She lives with her husband Paul West in Ithaca, New York.

Reviews

[Brendan]

Rating: 3 1/2

I bought this without knowing the whole collection is about therapy, or the relationship between Ackerman and her therapist. It's over 140 pages, and gets a bit redundant, due to the narrowness of the topic. But she does a good job of approaching the subject from different angles.

A few pieces worth noting:
"High Above the Impedimenta of the City"
'Rorschach: Magritte's Painting "The Therapist""
"A Little Grammar Is a Dangerous Thing"
"Rachmaninoff's Psychiatrist"

the land of pain's nimbus
and the loon's adagio
- "Clouds and Vases"

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorite Quotes:

snowflakes
falling like shredded wax
and the wind flexing its muscles...

so I’ll sacrifice my yen to know
the what and whim of you.

Poems arrive as meteorite...I fight its common sense: I try to stabilize us through eloquence. It’s an old story, better told than I tell, how artists shape what hurts like hell [into:] lesser desires we can control.

we ladle ideas.

peel the zest from a mood, even butcher the morning for you

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am glad I read these poems, but I just don't always seem to agree with Ackerman's ideas of spirituality, which bothered me a bit. But it is clear that there is talent within these pages and I did really enjoy several of the poems in here, particularly 'When You Answer the Phone' and 'A Little Grammar is A Dangerous Thing.'

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent book of poetry~just lovely. I've been reading and re-reading this for a few years now. I love "hearing" each poem from a slightly different place & grasping something new from it each time.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Therapy can be brutal - these poems show the clash between what you hope you will accomplish, and what you truly have to accomplish in therapy. Amazing poems, so honest, and spare but lush at the same time.

[jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

this contains stuff of interest for those who want to hear about the intensity and emotional depth of the therapeutic relationship from the patient's side, from someone who is both deep and very good at putting words together. the poetry itself, though, didn't seem terribly interesting to me.

[Wordpunk · Rating 4 out of 5]

"even my fingerprints ache"

[Malcolm Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

These poems are essentially a journal of her psychotherapy. As poetry I didn't find myself wanting to reread them--not a plus.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetic psychoanalysis...how can you argue that?

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow disappoint after "Natural History of the Senses". The poems seemed to lack the sensuality of her descriptions and insights into the senses...

[Karen Sofarin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread it. Think I loved it even more the second time. Every page stuns me.

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about the therapy process and the client-therapist relationship.

[Keri Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ackerman's psyche poetry is full of wisdom and dreamy stanzas with a great span of word play and a deeper understanding of the psychological-meets-poetry.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as I wanted it to be...I'll probably reread it, though