The Poetry Remedy

**The US edition of the bestselling The Poetry Pharmacy A beautiful collection of curated poems each individually selected to provide hope, comfort, and inspiration--for all of life''s most difficult moments/b> Sometimes only a poem will do. These poetic prescriptions and wise words of advice are tailored to those moments in life when we need them most, from general glumness to news overload, and from infatuation to losing the spark. Whatever you’re facing, there is a poem in these pages that will do the trick. This pocket-size companion presents the most essential fixes in William Sieghart’s poetic dispensary--those that, again and again, have shown themselves to hit the spot. Whether you are suffering from loneliness, lack of courage, heartbreak, hopelessness, or even an excess of ego--or whether you are seeking hope, comfort, inspiration, or excitement--The Poetry Remedy will provide just the poem you need in that moment.

“With [The Poetry Remedy] on your shelf, you’ll never be at a loss for comforting words.”
—**Book Page

“Truly a marvelous collection . . . There is balm for the soul, fire for the belly, a cooling compress for the fevered brow, solace for the wounded, an arm around the lonely shoulder—the whole collection is a matchless compound of hug, tonic and kiss.”
—Stephen Fry

“The book is delightful; it rightly resituates poetry in relation to its biggest and most serious task: helping us to live and die well.”
—Alain de Botton

“Healing for the heart and soul. I keep my copy with the brandy and aspirin.”
—Jeanette Winterson, author of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Auteur
William Sieghart has had a distinguished career in publishing and the arts. He established the Forward Prizes for Poetry in 1992 and founded the UK's National Poetry Day in 1994. He is a former chairman of the Arts Council Lottery Panel and current chairman of Forward Thinking, a charity seeking peace in the Middle East; the Somerset House Trust; and Street Smart, Action for the Homeless. He was awarded a CBE in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to public libraries.

Texte du rabat

A pocket-sized collection of poems and meditations carefully curated to resonate with anyone seeking solace from a spectrum of maladies, selected to let readers know they're not alone.

Résumé
***The US edition of the bestselling *The Poetry Pharmacy

• A beautiful collection of curated poems each individually selected to provide hope, comfort, and inspiration—for all of life's most difficult moments

  Sometimes only a poem will do. These poetic prescriptions and wise words of advice are tailored to those moments in life when we need them most, from general glumness to news overload, and from infatuation to losing the spark. Whatever you’re facing, there is a poem in these pages that will do the trick.

  This pocket-size companion presents the most essential fixes in William Sieghart’s poetic dispensary—those that, again and again, have shown themselves to hit the spot. Whether you are suffering from loneliness, lack of courage, heartbreak, hopelessness, or even an excess of ego—or whether you are seeking hope, comfort, inspiration, or excitement—The Poetry Remedy will provide just the poem you need in that moment.

Échantillon de lecture

Condition | Anxiety

Also suitable for: Fear for Children • Fear for the Future • Sleeplessness • Stress • Worrying

For as long as anxiety has existed, human beings have woken up panicking in the night. And anxiety has existed for a long time: at the very least, since we first became aware of ourselves and of the future, however many millennia ago. Yet it was not until the modern age that anxiety seemed to become an epidemic. Ironically, in a time of greater plenty, health, and comfort worldwide than ever before, we are more racked by worry than we have ever been.

No one tells you when you become a parent that you are condemned to worry for the rest of your life. Lying awake at night is usually the worst of all: the blank space of the darkness provides a theater for the most intense and unlikely of worries, putting your sense of powerlessness, of your own vulnerability and of the vulnerabilities of your loved ones, into even sharper perspective. The nighttime is when there is nothing to be done except brood.

These nocturnal concerns are not easy to escape, but I find the calming words of Wendell Berry's "The Peace of Wild Things" help me put things into perspective. Although I live in the middle of a city, far away from the wood drake and the great heron, I can see them in my mind's eye when I whisper his words. Perhaps it is the poetic equivalent of counting sheep, but this poem helps me to calm my mind and my breathing, and drift into unconsciousness.

The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Condition | Compulsive Behavior

Also suitable for: Addiction • Obsession • Self-Destructiveness

It's a sad fact that when people are having trouble coping, they often turn to solutions even more destructive than their feelings. Whether they struggle with a drug addiction or simply a propensity to pop over to McDonald's after a hard day, I'm constantly speaking to those who no longer feel in control. I also meet people who have suffered at the hands of others' bad habits, or who have even been subjected to abuse, and who therefore feel that their minds are no longer entirely their own.

It can be hard to imagine changing oneself in the face of pressures like this. When you can't envision a world without a destructive habit, or thoughts that tear you down, that lack of hope can make it even harder to move on. There's nothing more frightening than feeling trapped in a prison of one's own mind and compulsions.

I like the solution offered by these lines by Susan Coolidge because it's straightforward. "OK," they say, "things have been bad. They may be bad again; they may not. In the meantime, let's take heart with the day. Let's begin again and see what happens." It doesn't need to be dramatic, this change in outlook. It's about acceptance, low-level optimism, and incremental change. There's a wisdom to the way so many of our modern-day mantras focus on living in the moment, relishing the now, and smelling the roses; and there's a reason that Alcoholics Anonymous recommends recovery be approached one day at a time. Breaking things down into bite-size chunks doesn't just make them more manageable: it also provides us with many more chances to start again if we fail. This poem urges us to appreciate the fresh beginnings that every day brings with it. But we don't need to stop there. After all, if tomorrow can be the first day of the rest of your life, why not make this very second its first moment?

from New Every Morning
Susan Coolidge

Every day is a fresh beginning;

      Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,

And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,

      And puzzles forecasted and possible pain,

      Take heart with the day, and begin again.

Conditi…