The Poetry Pharmacy By William Sieghart
The Poetry Pharmacy — Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul is a collection of poems dispensed by William Sieghart, British publisher, poetry advocate, and library champion. This book prescribes poems for over fifty common human conditions, including anxiety (The Peace of Wild Things, by Wendell Berry), self-recrimination (Wild Geese, by Mary Oliver), emotional repression (The Guest House, by Rumi) and oppression (Still I Rise, by Maya Angelou). The book is physically pleasing, with a brilliant red fabric hardcover and a ribbon bookmark. It is organized with the condition listed on the left page, followed by a reflection by Sieghart. The prescribed poem is on the facing page. I appreciated the concept and organization of the book, although I would have preferred less commentary by Sieghart (my usual complaint about poetry collections). If you visit Shropshire, you can make an appointment for a consultation with the Poetry Pharmacist for a personal prescription. While I won’t be using this to recommend specific poems to my psychiatric patients, I would recommend it for general reading.
RECOMMENDED BY:
Macdonald, F. (2017, September 27). The words that can make us calmer. BBC Culture. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170927-the-words-that-can-make-us-calmer
Rose, A., & Rhodes, V. (2017, November 19). “The Poetry Pharmacy.” Corpus. https://corpus.nz/the-poetry-pharmacy/
Gertler, F., & Sieghart, W. (n.d.). Reclassifying the “P word”: William Sieghart on The Poetry Pharmacy. Foyles. https://www.foyles.co.uk/public/biblio/authordetails.aspx?authorid=85864