Lucienne Argent
NOT LOOKING AWAY
When was the last time you caught a glimpse of someone, in the street or in a grocery store, and wondered about the details of their life story for a second?
As we prepare to celebrate World Mental Health Day on 10 October, the AVBOB Poetry Project celebrates the work of Lucienne Argent, a poet, artist and counsellor whose debut collection, Self-Portrait of a Guava (Karavan Press, 2024) contains poems in which she tests the limits of her own curiosity in the face of other people’s frustration and suffering.
Argent, who started writing poetry seriously in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, has honed a style rooted in language that is clear and easily accessible, but also hauntingly powerful.
In some of the collection’s strongest poems, her experience as a counsellor feels particularly relevant. ‘In Sorrowing Old Man’, for instance, she confronts the subject of one of van Gogh’s famous paintings. She is unable to comfort him, but notes: “I don’t know many things / but I do know this: / I must not look away. / I must not look away.”
In another piercingly beautiful poem, ‘Tell Me’, this same refusal to look away prompts her to reach out to someone she hardly knows, if at all.
Call and tell me how you feel stuck,
how you feel trapped and how you
can’t bear to smile and be nice to
customers who swear at you and
how you just want to sleep all the
time and how you are the only one
at home who has a job and how your
sister’s on your case and how everyone
says you should be grateful and
how you’re sorry you just, you just,
you just …! I can do nothing for you and
I have no wisdom to share but call and
tell me.
Argent wrote this in response to a prompt from one of Finuala Dowling’s writing courses.
“We were asked to write a poem of consolation for people living through our time of crisis, something that wrestles with crimes of the past and the limits of poetry to atone for those crimes. I was volunteering as a trauma counsellor at the time, and I was often overwhelmed by how inadequate my offering felt. I couldn’t do anything to help, except listen. Similarly, the poem offers no real consolation or atonement but tries to bear witness.”
Asked how we ought to celebrate Mental Health Day, Argent emphasises the power of poetry.
“For me, poetry offers a way to say things that can’t be said in everyday conversation, to explore difficult emotions and retell stories in a way that banishes shame. Poetry offers ways to tell the truth and claim your story, which is a powerful way to heal. And if you choose to share it, it’s also a powerful way to connect with people and find community.
“‘Mental health’ can so easily become an empty phrase, associated with avoiding anything that disturbs our peace of mind. In ‘Sorrowing Old Man’, I was grappling with my desire to look away from suffering in the world. I think the longer we’re able to sit with our difficult feelings, the more capable we are of navigating them, and the more capable we are of really looking after each other.”
In the next few days, write a poem in which you invite interaction with someone whose circumstances you vaguely know but who is mostly unfamiliar to you.
The annual AVBOB Poetry Competition is open for submissions until 30 November 2024. Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za today and find out how to enter.