Can a poem really change how you feel? My guest this week is Deborah Alma, poet, editor and founder of The Poetry Pharmacy, where poems are prescribed for the emotional ailments of everyday life. Deborah’s thought kept is: “A poem can fundamentally change someone’s mood.” It’s an idea that began while Deborah was working with people living with dementia, where she saw how a poem could take someone beyond the room they were sitting in — to the sea, a picnic or flying a kite — and how the feeling created by that experience could remain long after the poem itself had been forgotten. That idea has carried Deborah from prescribing poetry from the back of a vintage ambulance as the Emergency Poet to creating The Poetry Pharmacy: extraordinary spaces dedicated to poetry, human connection and emotional wellbeing, now found in Bishop’s Castle, York and on Oxford Street in London. We talk about why so many of us were taught to be afraid of poetry at school, and why we don’t necessarily need to understand a poem to feel it. We explore poetry as a way of living with grief, anxiety, uncertainty and overwhelm; why the right poem is deeply personal; and why Deborah believes poetry can help us notice the small, beautiful and strange things that make up a life. Deborah also prescribes poems for three feelings I encounter again and again in my own work: joy, overwhelm and feeling lost. Along the way, we talk about third spaces, independent high streets, dementia, grief, creativity, play, rest, uncertainty and the importance of finding ways to remain distinctly human in an increasingly flattened world. Poems mentioned Kinsale, Derek Mahon From Blossoms, Li-Young Lee The Word, Tony Hoagland Postscript, Seamus Heaney Lost, David Wagoner Variation on a Theme by Rilke, Denise Levertov Grace, Esther Morgan These Hands, Pam Ayres Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas Also mentioned: Deborah’s Emergency Poet anthology; her Poetry Pharmacy collections exploring emotional states including calm and joy; the forthcoming “poison” anthologies exploring revenge, vices and darkness; and her anthology Becoming, with poems about finding confidence in your own nature and voice. About Deborah Alma Deborah Alma is a poet, editor and the creator of the Emergency Poet and The Poetry Pharmacy. What began with Deborah prescribing poems from a vintage ambulance has grown into The Poetry Pharmacy, with spaces in Bishop’s Castle, York and London, alongside poetry anthologies and collaborations with Macmillan. If this conversation has you thinking about the emotional side of your own life — whether you’re feeling anxious, overwhelmed, uncertain or a little lost — you can explore more at If Lost, Start Here Support the show This is A Thought I Kept — Weekly conversations about the ideas that stay. Listen every Monday morning for a new thought to hold onto this week. About Claire Fitzsimmons Claire is the host of A Thought I Kept, a wellbeing writer, author and the co-founder of If Lost Start Here. As a Certified Coach and Emotions Coach Practitioner, Claire helps people navigate the everyday lost moments and all the feelings, from anxiety to grief, overwhelm to disconnection. Buy Claire's first book, If Lost Start Here: Wellbeing for the Anxious, Disconnected or Uncertain here. Subscribe to Claire's Substack newsletter here. Find out how to work with Claire here. Like what you heard? Follow, rate or review this podcast. The music for all episodes from August 10th was made by Leon in the Wilderness.
