Our featured publication for May and June is The Sessions by Jonathan Totman, published by Pindrop Press.
The fifty sonnets of this collection explore talking therapy from the perspective of client and therapist. Drawing on the author’s work as a clinical psychologist, as well as his experiences of being in therapy, the poems pay tribute to the healing power of conversation while also interrogating the complications and contradictions of the process: what does it mean when care is boxed into a time-limited consultation? What happens within and between us when the personal, professional and political collide? ‘The Sessions’ is a compassionate, humane look at how we hide and reveal parts of ourselves; how we change and how we don’t. It is a book, ultimately, about connection.
‘I so loved this collection: the skills of a clinical psychologist – of intelligent empathy, compassion and of close attention- are qualities that well serve this poet. It is a beautifully written work, but also fascinating in the way that gets behind the mask and finds there uncertainties and frailties but also always kindness, gentleness and warmth. A collection that casts light on the intricate workings of the human psyche and the art of healing in stunning lines of poetry. If nature is therapy, let this hour be the shoreline.‘ Deb Alma
‘I absolutely loved this collection. ‘The Sessions’ is a well-written, acutely observed collection of sonnets exploring the role of the psychologist. What does it mean ‘to hear a thousand traumas humming in the bodies of passers-by’? These poems capture those ‘uncleaned corners’ of life, then send you out ‘past the buses and the wheelie bins, your mind decorated with the deep-down knowledge of your goodness.’ Immensely enjoyable.‘ Elisabeth Sennitt Clough
‘A fascinating and formally coherent collection that draws on the poet’s first-hand experience of psychotherapy, offering us a privileged insight into his world. Exploring the day to day of professional practice, Totman takes a compelling and highly original perspective on work and human relations, love and relationships, childhood, parenthood and play. Each sonnet is a room, a session, a question, an interrogation, a reflection, a realisation, each poem a vignette informed by life and observation, concerned with knowing others and in turn the self. A journey of beautifully crafted poems that celebrate the business and rituals of witness behind closed doors, the passing of minutes in words and silence, the things hard to say, the holding back and letting go, the rehearsals of loss, the quiet catastrophes.‘ Paul Stephenson
‘With a frankness so thorough it’s almost disconcerting, Totman draws back the veil on the therapist/patient dynamic. His nuanced reading of the atmospheric pressure in the therapy consultation-room produces lines that shock, jolt, soothe and ultimately bring us back to ourselves. These are restless, humane, questing poems where linguistic deftness is matched by a forensic compassion.‘ Claudine Toutoungi
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Behind Closed Doors
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The Tracks
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The Journey
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Reckoning
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Jonathan Totman is a clinical psychologist and poet, currently living and working in Oxfordshire. He trained at University College London, qualifying in 2013, and has since worked in various NHS, university and charity-sector mental health services. His pamphlet, Explosives Licence, was a winner in the 2018 iOTA Shot Competition and his debut collection, Night Shift, was published by Pindrop Press in 2020. Website/blog: https://www.jonathantotman.co.uk Twitter: @jonathan_totman
Copies of The Sessions are available to purchase from the Pindrop Press website, here.
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