NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

That poetry can be used for cathartic effect — to mark extraordinary life experiences, or during times of mental anguish — almost goes without saying. This is confirmed by the Births & Deaths column of any local newspaper, where ordinary people have turned to poetry to help them express profound feelings. Writing poetry can be an almost magical therapy — helping the least articulate find succour and release. It is therefore unsurprising to find poetry being used to help survivors of mental distress. Perhaps the one surprising thing is that, in the history of therapeutic support for mental ill health, it took so long before The Survivors Organisation was established. Set up as recently as 1991, Survivors Poetry is a national literature and performance organisation that enables survivors of mental distress to participate in writing and performing. The Survivors Organisation has a dedicated website and produces this glossy quarterly literary magazine which is also part newsletter/part journal for the various Survivor groups across the country.

This issue contains a feature on Survivor poet, Frank Bangay; an interesting review of the Sixties Press Anthology of GREGORY FELLOWS' POETRY; Jeremy Reed on the COLLECTED POEMS OF LEE HARWOOD together with various articles covering Survivor group activities including Workshops, The Stepping Out Theatre Company, Survivors at the West Words & Swindon Festivals of Literature.

There is, of course, a wide spectrum of poetry by Survivors, ranging from the anonymous contributions of members of S.H.E. (the Survivors Helping Each Other group — women survivors of childhood incest and sexual abuse) to the work of poets happily able to identify themselves. Many poems record progress away from illness and anguish, as in this anonymous offering, COMING BACK:

	When I was little my parents said,
	We don't want you except in our bed.
	My Sun and Moon crashed from  the sky
	And I went away
 
	Behind glass where no one could reach
	I've been there for fifty years
	This year I smashed the glass —
	It is good to be back

	He's looking at ink — blots
 
	As each one's held up
	He's asked, What
	Is this? And 
	His answer's always
	The same
	Beautiful, he says.

	My prison — this ward —
	The nurse — my jailer, my lord —
	Traps thought, cord by cord.

	I was swinging by a little pin of hope.
	You pulled the pin
	And threw me away.
 
	I, of course, exploded.

Free newsletter of Survivors' Poetry, which exists to support survivors of mental distress who write poetry and does so through outreach work, workshops, poetry readings, open mic events run by both Survivors' Poetry and affiliated groups, so it has a nationwide reach. However, the Arts Council of England are withdrawing funding, meaning that if Survivor's Poetry cannot find alterative funding by April 2006, Survivors' Poetry will effectively cease to exist. Issues 23 and 24 of the newsletter will still appear, and already planned publications will also go ahead. Unsurprisingly, much comment and letters regarding ACE's decision are contained within.

Also within are articles, reviews, reports on Survivors' Poetry activities both from the national organisation and local groups, and members' poetry. Dr Patricia Bidmead's article highlights the difficulties involved in diagnosing mental illnesses. Karen Bellamy explores the stigma surrounding mental illness, pointing out that if you hammer a nail into your finger, while a tetanus injection and antibiotics would help, the nail also has to be removed, yet with mental illness, suffers are often left with 'tetanus and antibiotics' approach and the actual cause of the illness is left untreated. Nadine Mannchen offers a article on Holderin and Hesse, supported with examples of the poets' works. The reviews cover both self-published and mainstream publications mostly of but not confined to poetry. The poetry can frequently stand on its own merit.

Kevin Saving's THE WAITING ROOM observes:

	...On carpets flecked with coffee-stains,
	to clocks which linger mollusc-slow,
	like ghosts in thrall to mumbled names
	we tip-toe to and fro...

	A parliament of soaks on park seats
	debate the air
	sift shit with the jackdaws.
	Eating houses pout,
	tout flesh in lingua franca,
	neon meals and fly papers
	fast food vines and creepers...

	... When a flower catches your skin,
	no longer delicate, but fierce.
	Is this how poems start?
	When the moon appears new
	and trees rasp the sky.
	Is this how poems start?
	When nothing appears as it was...

	...Language struggles to unite us,
	You are closer, close, but
	No; a deft turn of phrase and the fragile
	Bond is severed...

This magazine aims to promote the writing of survivors of mental distress. It is mailed free to Survivors and others who have empathy with the experiences of survivors. As poetry magazines go, this is one that has been well supported by the Arts Council and as such has a number of staff and volunteers. However, this issue contains several articles that indicate that core funding may not be available in future. This issue also contains reports on outreach and mentoring during the year and thereby gives some annual report material. There is a variety of articles, one of which concerns the letters of Robert Lowell. This article, called HARD-WON LIGHT by John O'Donoghue, reflects on Lowell's health problems:

Lowell was prescribed lithium in 1967. This slowed down the rate at which he fell ill, but did not cure him. Is it a coincidence that the next four books he wrote contained only 14-line unrhymed sonnets? Was he desperately trying to turn into poetry the quotidian reflections so evident in his correspondence as the upswings and the downswings of manic depression flattened out into a monotonous sublime?

	The leaves fall
	Watching the 'life she once had'
	Seems inevitable
	Seasonal clockwork rigorously perpetuates
	Whilst inside
	Suspended animation
	Leaves wither, flowers fade
	Their destiny and hers inexorably bound
	Yet divorced from each other