The Science of Happiness · PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Our Brains on Poetry

·23 min·2 clips

Poet Yersa Daly Ward reveals how poetry lets us see the world in all its colors, not just black and white.

1. The Science of Happiness, hosted by Shuka Kalantari and Dacher Keltner, explores how poetry affects the brain and wellbeing, featuring poet Yersa Daly Ward and Dr. Susan Maximan during Mental Health Awareness Month. 2. Yersa Daly Ward is described as an award-winning poet and author who has collaborated with Beyonce; her debut novel, 'The Catch,' is due June 3rd. 3. The episode's thesis is that poetry is a form of medicine — neurologically distinct from other literary forms and measurably beneficial to mental and physical health. 4. Ward's Jamaican immigrant mother insisted on reading everything in the house with no restrictions, giving Ward early exposure to story and rhythm as foundational cognitive tools. 5. Ward spent ages 6 to 12 with strict religious grandparents, not her mother, and describes reading and fictional worlds as 'respite' and 'an alternative to what was really going on' during that period. 6. Ward cites 'James and the Giant Peach' as an early example of poetry that is simultaneously funny, poignant, and loaded with meaning while depicting children in difficult circumstances. 7. Ward recites a poem she wrote for her brother Rodney when he joined the army at almost 16 — 'before I start this poem, please may I introduce my darling brother Rodney, who loves pineapple juice' — describing him as 'more than just a friend' and wishing him long life. 8. Ward describes writing as 'clearing out a connection to source,' while reading activates imagination, empathy, and connection to the larger world — two related but neurologically distinct experiences. 9. Ward argues poetry helps children 'metabolize the world differently,' developing emotional circuits earlier than they would without engagement with complex literary forms. 10. Keltner references a paper by professor FDH Stomku at the University of Amsterdam on imagination and poetry, noting that imagination tends to come alive during hardship. 11. Ward observes that deep imagination and survival mode are neurologically incompatible — you cannot be in fight-or-flight while engaged in creative immersion, which is why fiction and poetry function as physiological regulation tools. 12. Ward recommends writing uninterrupted for five to ten minutes immediately after waking, 'fresh out of dreams,' before the day has 'had time to beat me down,' without judging or editing what emerges. 13. Ward says writing is the one space where her fear disappears — growing up 'super religious' and people-pleasing, she found the written word gave her bravery she did not otherwise have. 14. Ward states she believes 'poetry is medicine' partly because the felt response of live audiences — 'you feel like a circuit is happening' — is empirical data, not metaphor. 15. Keltner notes that connection adds approximately ten years to life expectancy, and he credits Ward for the novel framing that connection is the opposite of depression. 16. Dr. Susan Maximan explains that metaphors like 'a rough day' or 'a rainy day' activate the somatosensory cortex, making language physically embodied rather than purely conceptual. 17. Maximan describes the brain as born with over 100 billion neurons and quadrillions of neural pathways, and argues arts and aesthetic experiences are among the strongest conductors for building synaptic connections. 18. Maximan notes that the rhythmic structure of poetry improves memory encoding and recall such that Alzheimer's patients who can no longer access the hippocampus can sometimes still retrieve rhythmic poetry stored in other brain regions. 19. The episode combines a personal creative interview with Keltner and Ward — warm, mutually enthusiastic — followed by a more explanatory science segment with Maximan reported by producer Trik Nguyen. 20. The episode suits listeners interested in the intersection of creativity and neuroscience; those seeking clinical depth or original research findings may find the science segment too introductory.

As heard by us

A warm, personal conversation about poetry, childhood difficulty, and the way reading and writing can open connection.

Poetry is treated here less as decoration than as a way of making private difficulty feel speakable. The episode begins with the guest recalling childhood reading, especially Roald Dahl, as a place where hard circumstances could sit beside humor, strangeness, and magic.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want poetry to feel practical, not precious.

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