12/07/2025- let time go slow as moss

Welcome to this week’s Poetry Pharmacy newsletter. 
On Thursday 10th July it was publication date for the latest two books in our Poetry Prescription series - First Aid and Inspiration
 
On Inspiration
There are moments—quiet, quick, or chaotic—when something shifts within us. A spark or the feeling of a sharp intake of breath. There is something miraculous brushing against the ordinary. Inspiration, from the Latin inspirare, meaning to breathe into, once implied the gods themselves were at work, whispering into our lungs the courage to create or to act. 

In the Poetry Pharmacy, we see inspiration not only as a lofty lightning bolt but also as a warm encouragement, maybe a gentle hand in the small of the back, saying yes, go on, you can do it.  As Rilke wrote, “This most fleeting of forces does not arrive by command, but by invitation.” We must be ready to receive it.

let time go slow as moss
In the UK at the height of this hot summer, we are maybe feeling less inspired to action, but these are perfect days to let things brew in our imagination. 
This week's subject line is taken from a poem in Poetry Prescription: Inspiration,  By the Bridge, an Eel Watcher, from Dart by Alice Oswald

I never pass that place and not make time
to see if there’s an eel come up the stream
I let time go as slow as moss, I stand
and try to get the dragonflies to land
their gypsy-coloured engines on my hand)

(but you'll have to buy the book to read the whole poem!)

The poem is often a place of mystery, a place which may invite us to step beyond what we know, to pause in this in-between space, and to cultivate boredom; as it is often in those quiet, unfilled moments that creativity is aroused. We might then surrender control and the allow the unexpected to take root. 

Here's the whole of Carol Ann Duffy's poem Bees also from the book and we love it for its metaphor for the art of writing, as well as its buzzy, gold and yellow summer feel. 
Bees
Here are my bees,

Poetry Prescriptions: Inspiration - For Insights and Bursts of Illumination; Stimulants for Creative Awakening; To Quicken the Heart and Mind; for Energising Body and Spirit

Poet Spotlight

Carol Ann Duffy, born in Glasgow and raised in Stafford, is one of the UK’s most beloved contemporary poets and was the first woman, the first Scot, and the first openly LGBTQ+ writer to be appointed Poet Laureate, a role she held from 2009 to 2019.

Renowned for her accessible yet deeply resonant verse, Duffy’s poetry often gives voice to the overlooked and the silenced — from historical figures and fictional characters to everyday individuals. Her work deftly explores themes of love, loss, memory, and identity, all delivered with wit, empathy, and an ear finely tuned to the rhythms of spoken language.

You can read more about this much-admired poet on the excellent Poetry Foundation site here. We recommend her Collected Poems or the acclaimed collections The World's Wife and Rapture.

Portrait of Carol Ann Duffy by Clae Eastgate