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All That We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy<\/em> <\/p>\n Sophia Saco:<\/strong> \u201cThis Is How You Lose Your Body\u201d was originally published in The Florida Review,<\/em> and it\u2019s exciting to see the poem again in your collection All That We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy<\/em>. Can you speak to the changes in this poem, and perhaps the collection itself, since its original publication?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bridget Bell:<\/strong> When I originally wrote \u201cThis Is How You Lose Your Body,\u201d I was super into enjambment; I love the way enjambment can create interesting double meanings on the line break and how it can function to pull a reader through the poem. However, during the editorial process, I worked with Baron Wormser, and he suggested that I organize the stanzas according to the sentences rather than letting the sentences meander so much. I made that edit based on his suggestion, and I think the new lineation creates a more urgent tone. In fact, most of the revisions I made to the full-length manuscript had to do with lineation and stanza changes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sophia Saco:<\/strong> Postpartum depression is a \u201ccommon complication\u201d that often goes undiagnosed, as mentioned in the introduction by Dr. Riah Patterson. I was particularly passionate about your collection for its unabashed honesty regarding this seemingly \u201ctaboo\u201d subject. Your poems investigate postpartum life from all sides to achieve a nuanced and tangible depiction. What craft challenges did you face in the rendering of these depictions?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bridget Bell:<\/strong> I think the biggest craft challenge was finding the right form for the right content. Postpartum life is so wild, particularly if you are struggling with perinatal mood disorders (PMADs) with symptoms that are all over the map. Some symptoms like intrusive thoughts or ruminations feel very cyclical while other symptoms like disassociation or hopelessness feel very unmoored. It was interesting for me to see how the use of strict form or the total lack of form could connect to the content of each poem. For example, \u201cSleep Deprivation,\u201d which is one of the least structured poems in the collection, with inconsistent stanza lengths and lines that jump all over the page, tries to mimic how fractured reality can feel when you are sleep deprived. That broken form works for the broken feeling engendered by sleep deprivation. It was a lot of fun to play with that intersection of the emotional content and the form for each poem.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sophia Saco:<\/strong> \u201cI Worry About Women\u201d mentions Sylvia Plath and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The last lines are rife with satisfaction: \u201cTo be able to reach up with my bare palm \/ and crush an insect\u2019s ancient back.\u201d Would you say that All That We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy <\/em>is in conversation with the work of women writers whose anxieties were dismissed? If so, is the collection in conversation with other specific writers?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bridget Bell:<\/strong> The collection is absolutely in conversation with the work of women writers whose anxieties were dismissed, and not just with women writers, but women in general. That same poem you reference starts with the speaker worrying about women \u201cin 1957 Leetonia, Ohio with nothing useful to stop \/ the babies from coming.\u201d That line was inspired by my grandma who had my dad when she was sixteen and went on to have eight more kids. It hurts me to think about what her postpartum experience must have been like. The poem \u201cEscape\u201d is in conversation with Judy Garland\u2014when I was depressed, I\u2019d quietly sing \u201cSomewhere Over the Rainbow\u201d to my daughter because I was comforted by its sad longing. \u201cDangerous for Mothers\u201d is in conversation with Connie Voisine\u2019s \u201cDangerous for Girls,\u201d which if you have not read, you should read. It\u2019s amazing, and it\u2019s also deeply rooted in the idea of dismissing female anxieties.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sophia Saco:<\/strong> I\u2019m interested in your use of strict forms, as in \u201cSestina In Which The World Fails To Tell You About The Tedium,\u201d as well as your critical look at postpartum complications. I see a connection between the sestina framing the speaker\u2019s monotony (without escape) and the tendency of medical professionals to send patients in circles (without answers). Are there other moments in the collection that function similarly?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bridget Bell:<\/strong> I love how you describe the sestina working in that poem\u2014thank you! It felt like the perfect form to capture an idea that so many people gloss over, which is that infants are boring. With a new baby, your days repeat and your nights repeat and they all start to blur together. I hoped the loops of the sestina would capture that idea. I also use the sonnet a few times throughout the collection, and I think that form functions similarly. For me, the iambic pentameter in sonnets is a bit sing-songy\u2014almost like the nursery rhyme of poetry, so it felt like a natural form to use to sort of poke fun at the idealized \u201cnursery rhyme\u201d version of motherhood. I also felt like the sonnet mimicked that subversive, dark side of nursery rhymes\u2014that ABAB CDCD rhyme scheme can be a bit mocking in its perfection.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sophia Saco:<\/strong> All That We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy<\/em> weaves several epigraphs into the fabric of the collection, from section breaks to singular poems. Barbara Ras\u2019s \u201cA Wife Explains Why She Likes Country\u201d and Anne Carson\u2019s \u201cThe Glass Essay\u201d are two among many. In the book\u2019s acknowledgements, you also thank the researchers whom you reference, noting their work on maternal mental health. Can you elaborate on your influences for this collection, both obvious and subtle?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bridget Bell:<\/strong> Writing and reading were such huge parts of my recovery process when I was suffering from postpartum depression, and the idea of being in communication with other women\u2014even on a figurative level\u2014through my writing has always appealed to me. When I\u2019m stuck on a poem, I often go back and reread certain poems that I love. Barbara Ras\u2019s \u201cA Wife Explains Why She Likes Country\u201d and Carson\u2019s \u201cThe Glass Essay\u201d are two of those poems. So is Connie Voisine\u2019s \u201cDangerous for Girls.\u201d It\u2019s powerful to imagine that these women\u2019s words helped me to crack open the world of the poems they inspired. I was also super influenced by texts written by maternal mental health experts. Particularly, Karen Kleiman\u2019s book This Isn\u2019t What I Expected: Overcoming Postpartum Depression<\/em>, which I read early on in my recovery process, was hugely important when I was working on the poems. I also returned over and over again to the website for Postpartum Support International, which includes a section called \u201cStories of Hope\u201d where women can talk about their personal experience with maternal mental health struggles.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sophia Saco:<\/strong> In \u201cThis Is For The Mother (Postpartum Psychosis)\u201d the speaker addresses a \u201cyou\u201d at the end: \u201cI am sorry we left you alone. I am sorry we failed you.\u201d I was struck by the poem\u2019s transformation into an apology. I\u2019m reminded of your collection\u2019s title, All That We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy<\/em>, and the impossibility of fulfilling such a request. To \u201calways be happy\u201d seems a torture for anyone, let alone for a mother who has just undergone hormonal changes. Could you elaborate on your debut\u2019s title?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bridget Bell:<\/strong> The manuscript was very close to complete when I finally decided on a title. I had other working titles\u2014The Bruise Hurts Less Each Time It Gets Bumped <\/em>and Normal<\/em>\u2014but none of them were fully doing what I wanted the title to do. The first was a lyrical way to say that postpartum depression is highly treatable. The second played off the idea that PMADs are quite common. While the treatability and commonality of PMADs is important to the collection, I wanted something with more teeth, something that highlighted the immense pressure new moms feel to \u201ccherish every moment\u201d when in reality the moments to be truly cherished with a newborn are sporadic. I\u2019m also sarcastic by nature, so snark felt right\u2014that also connects back to some of the anger the speakers of the poems feel. When the phrase for the title popped in my brain, I was completely psyched because I knew I\u2019d found the right sentiment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sophia Saco:<\/strong> All That We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy<\/em> toys with language on many levels, and you create your own mother tongue. You do away with age-old expectations and express ideas of motherhood in new ways, both visible and less visible. If you could leave us with a final comment, what do you hope readers will take from this collection?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nBridget Bell
\nCavanKerry Press
\n$18.00 (paperback)
\nPublication Date: February 4, 2025<\/p>\n
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Bridget Bell’s<\/strong> debut poetry collection\u2014All That We Ask of You Is to Always Be Happy<\/em> (CavanKerry, 2025)\u2014explores maternal mental health. She is the recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council Artist Support Grant and teaches composition and literature at Durham Technical Community College. Additionally, she pours points at Ponysaurus Brewery in Durham, NC and proofreads for Four Way Books, a literary press based in Manhattan. Originally from Toledo, Ohio, she is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence\u2019s MFA program in creative writing. You can find her online at