Therapy by Réka Nyitrai

Laugh...and then cry

Therapy

by Réka Nyitrai

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After my mother
gave birth to my brother
she did not let my father
have sex with her anymore.
Instead, she preferred
to have her belly caressed with
a peacock’s feather. 
I still remember 
how she used to laugh 
and laugh…
and then cry.

First published in ONLY POEMS (January, 2024)

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Also, something a little extra today…here’s a snippet about this poem from our interview with Réka:

Shannan Mann

I keep returning to “Therapy”. These last lines: “how she used to laugh / and laugh… / and then cry”, tempered as they are with the ellipses feel as though they contain several poems within the one. How do you deploy elision in your work – is it an intentional, intuitive, or intellectual process? Do you find that this particular poetic device captures something about the essence of what you’re trying to communicate? These are, after all, heavy topics, so to speak. Does the act of omission and the created mystery that comes with it allow for a sense of narratorial safety, perhaps? Whether for the poet, the reader, or both?

Réka Nyitrai

I deploy omission intentionally. I learnt this technique by writing haiku. In haiku ‘absence’ is material — a white space. It doesn’t separate, but rather it unites. Omission lends the reader thinking space; it affords the reader an active role — to fill in that space with their own worldview, experiences and emotions. In poetry, less is often more, especially if the theme of the poem is, as you say, heavy. And yes, my topics are heavy: failed marriage, depression, unlived lives, trauma, loneliness.