Welcome to Litsy!

For days when we feel blue or in need of a pick-me-up, this book is such a solace ❤️. one of my most favourite lines of poetry from Wendell Berry‘s writing, “I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.” Words to live by & a book that heals the soul.

I appreciate the spirit with which these collections are created, though I'd argue the 'prescriptions' won't necessarily work for every reader. I think it's as good as any other collection that gives you an introduction to multiple poets, with the benefit that all the poems are short, or excerpts from longer poems/songs. I'll admit I did skim the analysis accompanying each poem. I found a few poems I like which is all I can really ask.

Love is Not All
-Edna St Vincent Millay

Damn. When it just punches you in the gut. Very subjective experience, but even if it's 1 out of 100, I keep reading poetry for those few that get me or get to me.

Be Introvert = Do Crimes. ?

"...if,/Deprived of solitude, you chafe,/
It's clear you're not the virtuous sort."
- Best Society, Philip Larkin

Thank you Rachel. What a brilliant little collection, it has distracted me completely. ♥️♥️
This one had your name in 😁

I read bits of this every day as it‘s so beautiful 🥰

This is cool! There's a Kickstarter campaign to open a poetry pharmacy. If you donate a certain amount, they'll give you a prescription. 🙂
www.kickstarter.com/projects/1245541163/the-worlds-first-poetry-pharmacy

I would like to say I was paying attention to the poetry (they were reading Wendell Berry‘s The Peace of Wild Things which is a lovey, amazing poem you should all google).... but I wasn‘t. I was watching the squirrels on the green cross beam run across and fall into the “beam” which is basically a fabric barrel. 😂 Squirrels in this photo are on the top of the green just to the left of the center line & most of the bulges in the bottom of it! 😂😂

"A well chosen anthology is a complete dispensary of medicine for the more common mental disorders, and may be used as much for prevention as cure."

Although not included in the Poetry Pharmacy, this quote by Robert Graves seems to sum it up well.

I'm unsure how seriously Sieghart takes his idea of prescribing "pills" of poetry as if they would have a predictable effect on different people. I'd disagree with him if that's his position, however, in a society adhering to a Western medical-model of health and wellbeing, his pharmacy concept may be a gateway for engagement with poetry, and for finding a reflective space in which people can better understand the wellsprings of their distress.

It happens all the time in heaven,
And some day

It will begin to happen
Again on earth -

That men and women who are married,
And men and men who are
Lovers,

And women and women
Who give each other
Light,
Often will get down on their knees

And while so tenderly
Holding their lover's hand,

With tears in their eyes,
Will sincerely speak, saying,

'My dear,
How can I be more loving to you;

How can I be more
Kind?”

- Hafez

There is a small, wide-eyed animal within each of us that doesn't understand why we keep kicking it. All we need to do to overcome is to treat ourselves like a loyal pet: with love, forgiveness and understanding.

Although the wind
blows terribly here,
The moonlight also leaks
between the roof planks
of this ruined house.

- "Although the wind" by Izumi Shikibu. Prescribed for psychological scarring, emotional baggage, feelings of brokenness, cynicism, fear of vulnerability, and self-isolation

A brighter day to be reading 😊

A grey day, and feeling grey myself. Hopefully, this book will be the tonic I'm looking for.

Met a Starship Captain, met a Grand Witch, met a Poetic Pharmacist. What a night!

Went to an 'Intelligence Squared' event called THE POWER OF POETRY tonight, with actors Jason Isaacs, Helena Bonham Carter, Sue Perkins and Tom Burke reading poems from William Sieghart's new collection THE POETRY PHARMACY, chaired by BBC journalist Sarah Montague und 'additional commentator' Jaenette Winterson 😍 Oh my, fangirlong hard!

The lovely Helena Bonham Carter and handsome Jason Isaacs reciting poetry at tonight‘s The Power of Poetry event. 😍😍😍

So who‘s gonna see Sieghart in conversation with Jeanette Winterson tomorrow, including a poetry performance by Jason Isaacs and Helena Bonham-Carter et al? Me me me! 😁 Thank you, @Heideschrampf , for drawing our attention to this. Looking forward to it! 😍

“I wish that I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being. This tiny poem”

written by the 14th century Persian Sufi poet Hafiz