Odes to Lithium

by Shira Erlichman

In this remarkable debut, Shira Erlichman pens a love letter to Lithium, her medication for Bipolar Disorder. With inventiveness, compassion, and humor, she thrusts us into a world of unconventional praise. From an unexpected encounter with her grandmother's ghost, to a bubble bath with Bjӧrk, to her plumber's confession that he, too, has Bipolar, Erlichman buoyantly topples stigma against the mentally ill. These are necessary odes to self-acceptance, resilience, and the jagged path toward healing. With startling language, and accompanied by her bold drawings and collages, she gives us a sparkling, original view into what makes us human.

Genres: Poetry, Mental Health, Queer, Mental Illness, Psychology, Disability, Nonfiction

100 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2019

About the author

Shira Erlichman is a writer, visual artist, and musician. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has been featured in The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed Reader, Nomadic Press, The Rumpus and PBS NewsHour’s Poetry Series, among others. She earned her BA at Hampshire College and was awarded a residency by the Millay Colony, the James Merrill Fellowship by the Vermont Studio Center, and the Visions of Wellbeing Focus Fellowship at AIR Serenbe. Born in Israel, raised in Massachusetts, she now lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

[Lyd Havens · Rating 5 out of 5]

After years of reading Shira's poetry in journals, I knew I was going to like this collection, and yet it was still a surprise to feel so seen, held, and valued by it. No one does wonder and gratitude like Shira—but I truly appreciated seeing it balanced between the heavy yet necessary truths of the stigma against mental illness and medication, how lonely and isolating mental illness can be, and how so many of us have to put our worlds back together over and over again. I am so, so thankful for this book.

[el · Rating 3 out of 5]

not for me, though i found the vast ground covered in this collection admirable!

[Maddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that I randomly stayed at the same mental hospital as the author?!?! Multiple times!! 🤯🤯

An honest, raw portrayal of bipolar disorder— what a wonderful collection of poetry.

[Basia · Rating 5 out of 5]

These poems boast breathtaking imagination—a bubble bath with Bjork, Phineas Gage as a house guest, and of course, lithium as a kind of life form⁠—all while sitting with the real need for and consequences of the lithium itself, in devastating moments in an ice cream parlor, surprisingly beautiful exchanges in a hospital parking lot, and in memory lapses witnessed by a lover who offers not fear in the face of her forgetfulness, but compassion. The collection is diverse in forms too, including neat lyrics, prose poems, epistolary poems written backwards, and a stunning poem with words of despair crossed out and replaced by alternatives that insist on survival, even if it means imperfection. In this noteworthy debut, Shira Erlichman has pulled off an impressive feat.

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Either I'm too stupid to understand or this genuinely made no sense.
I don't have an abstract mind.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really stunning book of poetry, a real love letter to lithium. I do not read a lot of poetry, but my gateway into this is that I work in the mental health field and have many clients who lithium has worked wonders on. The writing here is really gorgeous and thoughtful.

[Amelia Mertha ᭟᭜᭟ · Rating 4 out of 5]

With open arms Shira gives a lesson in form and compassion and medicine ~

[Iona Sharma]

What it says on the tin: 30+ poems that are addressed to lithium carbonate, the anti-manic mood stabiliser drug. I was fascinated by the idea of this, and it's wonderfully jarring to read a poem and have to keep reminding yourself that "you" doesn't mean me or the poet or some unnamed lover or the world at large, it means lithium, our beloved med. It probably speaks well about this book that I recognised lithium in many of its guises in the odes. Ultimately though I wasn't that keen on the poetry *as* poetry - the language isn't particularly beautiful or pleasingly precise, and I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much as I did if it had been about any other topic. But I did enjoy it.

[Patricia Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother was bipolar and took lithium for most of her adult life so I was really interested to read this more recent account. I'll be coming back to this collection over and over. It brings to mind the book Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, which includes one of the best descriptions I have ever read of a manic episode.

These poems up the ante on every page.

Some of my favorite moments:

The side effect of living your life is dying.

I focused my fork on a single pea, threaded the tiny planet, and examined it in the always changing light.

My little impossible guru. Prom date to the infinite void.

there are so many ways to need yourself.

I see her tongue change color & exhale a fuck of rivers.

Autumn was Jackson Pollocking all over our windshield.

In all their stories there is a common thread: someone didn’t listen.

Someone/a stranger/everyone is disappointed in me.

Everything was a wick. Even God was worn down by my false sirening.

I prefer choosing terror to a terror I didn’t choose.

You’re curt, drink your calendar neat, eat everything with a pocketknife, don’t ask me how.

[Gabrijela · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this intimate book of poetry, Shira reveals her epistolary relationship with Lithium - a medicine prescribed for her Bipolar Disorder. She delves into her experiences of traumatising hospitalisations, stays in mental health hospitals, the effects and side-effects of drugs prescribed, the anecdotes of living life with Bipolar, and the inability to connect with people around. Above all, I was amazed by the raw portrayal of the relationship with her mother. The recurring theme of their troubled relationship felt like an unrefined, emotional journey that ends with Shira dedicating this book to her. Reading it was such a wholesome experience.

---------------—-------------

"without blueprint, we beat our path into the ground
until others can walk there.
'What's your dose? ' the new psychiatrist asks.
Dose, from Greek dosis, meaning gift."

"brave: a minor form of despair, disguised as virtue."

"At night I shake the tablets in my palms.
But if you were someone? You'd be real. I'd hold you & thank you."

[Kendrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a reviewer that is working on a long-form review of this book, so I'm going to refrain from too detailed a review! Shira Erlichman's writing is something that's been on my radar for a long time, and it speaks in conversation with books by sam sax and Esme Wang Weijun. The poems of the first two sections of this book are accessible free-verse, but the final two sections begin to experiment with form and can be a little more difficult to parse. But those were the sections I enjoyed most in my reading!

Especial praise should be reserved for poems that deal with historical persons, such as "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Phineas Gage" and "The Monk". There are also black and white drawings interspersed between poems which add another layer of reclaiming language/art to explore living with mental illness. Personally, I wish that a little more could be done to explain the relationship between living with mental illness as opposed to treating mental illness, but there is enough heft to this collection for it to be an enjoyable, enlightening read.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t usually cry, not from books, TV, or film. This moved me, even through the Acknowledgements. There were tears. I hope, if you’re reading this and wondering if you should pick up this book, you choose to read these poems, read this work cover to cover.

[Jas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing collection of poems. This has been on my list for a while but I didn’t quite understand the significance of lithium until I finally picked it up and started to read. There are parts of this collection that will forever stay with me.

[S. Fey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheer awe.

[Alison M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t read much poetry, and I enjoyed this. If you or a loved one or friend have dealt with mental health challenges, I think you will find things to connect with in this.

[Firefly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay. Wow. Phew. This is a personal favourite among favourites... umm for personal reasons. Be warned though, this book is not for everyone. But if you are in a dark place, feeling alone & looking for a mirror soul, might give this a try. Deals with heavy topics. 6/5 stars.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lithium, from the Greek word lithos meaning stone is a fascinating element. It is a soft, silvery-white alki metal. It is the least dense metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly reactive and flammable, and must be stored in vacuum, inert atmosphere, or inert liquid such as purified kerosene or mineral oil. It never occurs freely in nature, but only in other compounds. Due to its solubility as an ion, it is present in ocean water and is commonly obtained from brines (salt water).

Lithium is rare in the Universe, although it was one of the three elements, along with hydrogen and helium, to be created in the Big Bang. The element was discovered on Earth in 1817 by Johan August Arfvedson. It gives us lighter aircraft and armoured plating. It also keeps grease running at arctic temperatures, powers pacemakers and lies at the heart of the hydrogen bomb. It is used in glass, ceramics, batteries and even as medicine.

Lithium is moderately toxic as discovered in the 1940s when patients were given lithium chloride as a salt substitute. However, in small doses it is prescribed as a treatment for manic depression (now called bipolar disorder). Its calming effect on the brain was first noted in 1949, by an Australian doctor, John Cade, of the Victoria Department of Mental Hygiene. He had injected guinea pigs with a 0.5% solution of lithium carbonate, and to his surprise these normally highly-strung animals became docile, and indeed were so calm that they would sit in the same position for several hours. Cade then gave his most mentally disturbed patient an injection of the same solution. The man responded so well that within days he was transferred to a normal hospital ward and was soon back at work. Other patients responded similarly and lithium therapy is now used all around the world to treat this mental condition. How it works is still not known for certain, but it appears to prevent overproduction of a chemical messenger in the brain.

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/el...

As a psychiatric nurse, I am well versed in the use of lithium. Therefore I was intrigued by this book of poems exalting its uses. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this read as I found it too jumbled and obscur, but I do think that Erlichman has created a remarkable story of her mental health journey with lithium. Books like these help to showcase the person within the mental illness to decrease stigma and give a view into what it is like living with mental illness. I applaud her vulnerability in this book. Just wasn’t what I was looking for in a read.

If this is a book you liked, I would highly recommend “An unquiet mind: A memoir of mood and madness” by Kay Redfield Jamison. In this book I learned my favourite story about lithium. Jamison discusses a little known use of lithium that really helps me remember the toxic nature of this medicine. In the UK sheep farmers would often lose sheep to wolves. Their solution was to take a sheep carcass and sprinkle it with lithium. The wolves would ingest the medicine and get so sick, that they would never kill another sheep.

[Samantha Pearl · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s not easy dying without dying. Before I ever took the pills I took so much. So much was taken. I’m done. I’m here.” - Postscript to Mania

This beautiful book of poems lived up to all of the hype my heart made for it when Shira first announced it’s release on her instagram. The poems accurately, painfully, beautifully, intensely depict the intricacies of living with bipolar disorder. Shira’s poetics are easy to follow and they invoke emotion and imagery. The realities of Bipolar Disorder are something people don’t try to understand because they don’t want to, and a book like this is what the world needs. Thank you so so much Shira for sharing your truth. Here’s to the mentally ill and the poets who continue to sing their realities no matter what they look like. Here’s to Lithium (and all the psychotropics tbh) for poisoning and salting and allowing life.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very biased because Shira has been my teacher and is an amazing human being. I'm impressed by the variety of forms these poems take in communicating the seemingly unsayable around mental illness and medications. Shira definitely practices what she preaches: letting the poems teach you how they want to exist in the world. The biggest takeaway I've learned from Shira is, "Are you expressing something, or are you *communicating*?" These poems communicate, building a bridge from a speaker's personal and private heart straight into my own.

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a second for me to get immersed in this collection, but there are so many bangers. Erlichman had a great concept and stuck to it well, but I find the poems less about lithium to capture me more. Nevertheless, the technical skill of the work amazed me, especially the way she plays with construction and perspective.

I really enjoyed “Baby & I”, “Potion”, and especially “How the Jellyfish Prospered”.

[F · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice! readable, even tho some of them felt too short.

[Clover Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I know what the sea knows / with the bottom of its mind / unfathomed”

I had some preliminary knowledge of this collection’s subject matter from the title’s mention of Lithium, a medication cyclically entertained by providers in my personal history as a psychiatric patient. I am diagnosed bipolar—and therefore knew that baseline, separate from the content whatsoever, I would have some sort of emotional investment in the work. There are many directions that an assortment of poems thematically based in a mental health condition could take—the worst of which, IMO, being a reframed series of platitudes on suffering as a transitional period, the most vulnerable parts eclipsed by a sheen of toxic positivity. “Odes to Lithium” surpassed all of my expectations by writing bipolar in its rawest, most elemental form.

I was flummoxed upon the opener, “Snakes in your arms.” A first impression most unimaginable. Showcasing the way that stigma around bipolar, especially in a medical setting, causes others to rewrite their perception of you, and adjust accordingly, almost immediately. Then on, more shockingly accurate and captivating poems. Side effects and their multitude of side effects. Everything as a side effect of everything. At some point I had to stop writing down my favorite snippets—it would have become no more than a recap, no less than a piece or pieces of each poem.

The word “perfect” echoed through my mind off the bat and throughout. Perfect opening. Perfect sections. Perfect accompaniment of drawn elements. It was too good that I was met later on with the poem verbatim called “Perfect.” It is not often that I open a collection and expect perfection, much less find what I deem it to be. I would not say I am picky in the critical sense of the word, but I am partial to lush lived experience as a way to create storytelling poetry. These poems are perfect to me. I wouldn’t change anything about them. They are also perfect /for/ me. At moments I felt like the poet crawled into my brain, into my memories, for their source material. I’m in awe.

Language is used in such a compelling way that it leaves the Lithium metallic taste on your tongue and music in your ears. It is a completely written—and yet still completely sensory—experience.

“the gray matter of sleeplessness”
“Every day knived sharper” ??!!? oh my stars.
“slinking visions”

tigers as “salted orange.”
a clanging vent being “stroked.”

More favorite and jumping moments are the entirety of “In the Hands of” and the entirety of “The Watchman.”

Anyone who experiences or loves someone experiencing Bipolar disorder should delve into this collection—if not in agreement with my standard of perfection, then at least with the expectation of a seismic shift in their perception of the condition and their relationships that accommodate it. I have not yet seen Bipolar written with such life breathed into it, allowing it to take all of its demanded space, since reading Eugenia Leigh’s “Bianca.” That collection, along with this one, I would venture to call Perfect.

“there are so many ways to need yourself.”
“Burn the witch.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[el · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite poems: "Snakes In Your Arms," "I'm Sitting With Björk in my Bathtub," "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Phineas Gage," "Portrait of a Release"

From the acknowledgments:
"'You once wrote, 'Thank you for having the courage to live inside the hope you wish for [and the courage to] bring us to the edge of fullness time and time again.' This remains my compass."
"To the creative force that originates all phenomena—whenever I feel awe, I feel you."

"'Talk.' I sing, going the extra mile." (30)

"The class chatters: was he never the
same? A brute? Or was he, as some wrote, a miracle? No one says 'both.'" (36)

"How do you
pollinate my blood so exactly with sanity Does my brain's infinite
heart burden you Why find my grandmother too late
Why not kiss everyone who needs your fix Why leave some
to their singed waves Who do you speak to in my body that listens" (56)

"'I take meds & everything. Zyprexa & Seroquel. You?'

When I say Lithium it is a fact, like telling him what city I was born in
& finding out he's from there too." (60)

"/
last night in an unprecedented turn of events
I held my suffering to my ear & heard.
/
the brain broke itself
the brain broke itself

rather than

I broke the brain
I broke the
I broke
I
/" (82)

"'What's your dose?' the new psychiatrist asks.
dose, from Greek dosis, meaning gift." (86)

"I cannot help but think of you:
dying into my blood each morning, each night.
What a blessing, my monk,
to be your fire." (87)

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oops, I accidentally read this in a single sitting. I have a hard time savoring poetry and tend to devour it all in one go.

Shira Erlichman's poems are beautiful. So, so beautiful. They're thought-provoking too, as they all cover mental illness, specifically her Bipolar Disorder, and her appreciation and love for the Lithium that helps her. She plays with structure in some interesting ways, and has some really lovely, creative, and unique turns of phrase. The images Erlichman crafts are striking. I loved the poem about Phineas Gage, and the 89 lines one. Her illustrations throughout add a lot to the collection.

Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading more poetry or learning about mental health and mental illness.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trying to read more poetry. This is the first book I found myself (i.e. it was not a recommendation from a friend or pushed to me) and loved. Like I wanted to sit with it and read each poem slowly and deliberately. I should have known: going to the stacks and thumbing through collections is the only way... Nothing replaces it!

This collection is everything I've been looking for: raw and honest and nuanced, imagery and metaphors that are novel but don't feel contrived, experimentation with form that makes me want to create. Gold.

[Caitlin Conlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this collection. It played with form in really engaging ways, and expertly toed the line of being both enjoyable to read and beautifully written. I would recommend this to anybody that consumes poetry, but especially to those that have struggled with their mental health.

[Skylar Miklus · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inventive, brave exploration of living with mental illness, breaking down the usual stigmas. Apostrophic odes and formally innovative free verse populate these pages. A notable debut collection; Shira Erlichman is an author to watch.

[Dani Saiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erlichman does an amazing job with her poetry and capturing mental illness. I found a peer within those pages.

[sheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh my goodness, what a marvel to read

[Clay Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice debut collection