ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the therapeutic act of witnessing trauma through the works of two poets who have written about the collective trauma of the 20th century: Czeslaw Milosz (World War II) and Denise Levertov (Vietnam). A poem by Milosz is offered in which ordinary life in a Polish village is contrasted with the ongoing torture of a Jewish victim. According to Milosz, to witness a patient’s trauma, the poet/therapist must perforce stand outside of it, but this stance also betrays the patient. This contradiction is explored through the examination of two poems: “Dedication” by Czeslaw Milosz and “Advent 1966” by Denise Levertov. Both poems confess the inadequacy of art to impact or redeem the horror they witness. A case example is offered in which the therapist’s admitting he feels inadequate to offer much more help to a couple in which the wife has a severe trauma history leads to a breakthrough.
