To be held is to be embraced. Not only by the bodies or cities around you, but also by yourself. Maddie Godfrey’s poems are like a best friend standing behind you in the mirror, whispering truths you can’t yet speak by yourself. These poems are a lover’s hand finding yours in the dark. Although they articulate the heaviness of trauma, they are also fluent in the warmth of a well-lit room. How To Be Held reads like a manifesto to vulnerability. Maddie uses her own personal experiences to humanise topics such as body positivity, gender politics and self-preservation. Her words ache with an intimate familiarity, as if she is seated beside the reader on a couch or bar stool.
These poems are strong in the softest way. Maddie’s first collection lingers like a diary entry which you cannot remember writing but still recognise yourself within.
Even if these words do not teach you how to be held, they will embrace you.