We often get asked to help clients choose a line of poetry for their memorials. Finding something that perfectly illustrates their thoughts about a loved one is a tricky job, but when you find the right thing, poetry has the ability to somehow express intense emotion in a few powerful words.

William Sieghart came up with the wonderful idea of the Poetry Pharmacy. He would travel to events and festivals and set up his pharmacy, people would then come in with their problems and he would prescribe them a poem to read and digest to help them see their situation in a different light and realise others have faced the same things maybe centuries before.

A collection of the poems has been published, a book packed full of great poems, ancient to contemporary, while also being something to draw upon when life’s problems take hold. Useful poetry, now there’s a thing.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170927-the-words-that-can-make-us-calmer