What is it about?
This poem begins with a scene from the movie "The Pawnbroker," in which the aging man from the movie's title, who has lost almost everything in the Holocaust, slams his hand down on a spike used to hold bills or receipts in his office. He has repressed his feelings so much that not only has he almost eliminated past pain but has also eliminated the possibility of feeling present or future joy. The event in which the pawnbroker slams his hand down on the spike shows that he's ready to feel again.
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Why is it important?
The lesson here is that without the ability to feel pain, one can't feel pleasure either. Repression may not be the best way to deal with terrible emotional pain.
Perspectives
Psychological Perspectives is a quarterly journal of Jungian thought and has published work of mine only once. It is fascinating to read although difficult to read because of the small size and lightness of the font. The publisher charges $25 for a contributor's copy--probably quite affordable for a psychiatrist but probably not as affordable for a poet. (Literary journals, after all, usually send an author a free copy of the issue in which the author's work appears.)
Marjorie Stamm Rosenfeld
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Reprieve, Psychological Perspectives, July 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/00332925.2018.1496682.
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