Reviews

Poetry Pharmacy by William Sieghart

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kavreb's review against another edition

5.0

First and foremost this is an absolutely fantastic idea. Secondly, and equally importantly, it's (mostly) well executed by Mr Sieghart. He has gathered a good collection of psychologically supportive poetry and then written to each of them and their condition, an introduction that surprised me with its poignant insight into the human condition and his ability to be supportive and constructive in a therapeutic capacity without specialist training. My only criticism is that not all the poems seem to quite fit the condition, but at the very least his overview gives a condition/related perspective with which to approach the poem. This also comes in handy when the poem might puzzle the reader with its meaning; though that shouldn't happen too often because Mr Sieghart has chosen to err on the side of simplicity, which I fully support because this is a book for everybody, not only for those for whom understanding the poem on the first try is disappointing. Mr Sieghart didn't want to scare away his audience, and he is right to do it.

Poetry can be beautiful and uplifting and this is a great example of the potential power of poetry that isn't unfortunately taught in the classroom. Perhaps in a better future it will.