Delicious Oranges—Mental Health, Poetry, and the Non Sequitur

Poetry, because of its mutability on the page, is a fascinating medium for simulating the dialogues we have that reflect our mental states. The non sequitur, although not a specifically poetic writing device, is often exploited especially effectively in verse to evoke the restless mind via its jumpy enjambment and juxtaposition. This emotion-mirroring capacity of poetry is perhaps why it is frequently used in therapeutic writing settings, such as poetry therapy and journaling. In “Over Breakfast,” we see the anxious mind at work in conversation—or perhaps more of a dramatic monologue—between 2 friends meeting in the wake of one’s recent cancer diagnosis. The rapid-fire, largely unpunctuated lines, most of which are initiated by “Says,” convey the agitation the speaker’s friend contends with as she narrates a response to her threatened health—with the second line “Says she was nervous before last Friday’s appointment” actually making it explicit. The breathless insistence on speaking, and the repetition itself, feel like an attempt by both interlocutors to manage the anxiety. The scatterbrained asides, from the daughter’s sternly telling her mother to slow down to the Golden Gate Bridge to “Says insurance/Says emptiness,” only heighten the sense of the friend’s disconnection and volatile mood. Yet the stunning turn of the final line, perhaps the most blatant and ironic non sequitur of the entire poem, dramatically underscores that all the distractions and jitteriness are ultimately a grasping at peace, and hope, amidst inchoate fears.