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Hello, and welcome to this week’s newsletter,
This week, we’re turning our attention to the beauty, mystery and wonder of water. Being near water, particularly in wild and natural spaces, can be deeply restorative. The presence, movement and rhythm of rivers, lakes and seas invite us to slow down, reconnect with our bodies and our breath, and find moments of calm away from the noise of everyday life.
Our connection with the natural world is something deeply rooted within us, yet it’s easy to lose touch with it amongst the demands of modern living. Too often, we forget the importance of making space to be outside, to step away from screens and routines, and to simply spend time in the landscapes that sustain us. Immersing ourselves in nature - and especially in water - can awaken a sense of joy, freedom and wonder, while offering a balm for busy and overwhelmed minds.
But what if you can’t get to the sea, the river or the lake? What if, like many of us, you’re at work, in a city, caring for someone, or simply nowhere near the water?
This is where a poem can do something rather extraordinary. It can take us there. Deb recalls reading poetry with people living with dementia, long before the Poetry Pharmacy became what it is today. One of the poems she would read was John Masefield’s Sea-Fever, beginning with that familiar line, “I must go down to the seas again”. For a generation who had learned poems by heart at school, something remarkable would always happen. People who had lost so many everyday words would suddenly join in, remembering whole stretches of the poem word perfectly and for a moment they were taken to the wide expanse of a ship sailing on the sea.
That experience underpins so much of the work of the Poetry Pharmacy: the belief that a poem can transport us, return something to us, and reconnect us with places, feelings and parts of ourselves that might otherwise seem out of reach. So, if you can get to the water this week, go and spend some time beside it, paddle or swim if you can, and allow yourself simply to sit and listen. The presence, movement and rhythm of rivers, lakes and seas invite us to slow down, reconnect with our bodies and our breath, and find moments of calm away from the noise of everyday life.
And if you can’t, go there in a book or a poem.
Our Sea-Fever Poetry Pills are a Maritime Tonic for Sea-Longing; to Counteract City Weariness; for Salt Air, Open Skies & Restorative Tides. We also love Elizabeth Jane Burnett’s collection Swims, and the uplifting poem of the same name, which captures the sense of renewal and release that water can bring. Here are a few lines:
“To not end where you thought you did
not with skin but water
not with arms but meadow
of watercress, dropwort, floating pennywort
against all odds to be buoyant.
To feel there is an upward force
greater than the weight of the heart”
From wild swimming to rivers, oceans and rain, water has long inspired poets and writers with its ability to transform, restore and remind us of our place in the natural world. We’ve gathered some of our favourite books that celebrate the healing and uplifting power of water in our Bookshop.org list Immersion Therapy below...
 This week’s bookseller recommendation comes from Alice, who has chosen Dart by Alice Oswald. Alice read the poem while staying beside the River Dart in Devon, following its journey alongside the river itself - a beautiful example of how poetry can deepen our connection to place. You can read Alice’s thoughts on Dart below:
“I just read Alice Oswald’s Dart while staying on the river Dart in Devon, which she describes as ‘a sound-map of the river, a songline from the source to the sea.’ It beautifully weaves together the voices of characters inspired by people who live and work on the Dart to evoke the voice of the river.
Best administered while sat beside a river, with a fishing line cast from your mind into the water to see if you too can catch the river’s songline.
Side effects include: letting ‘time go as slow as moss,’ getting quiet enough to hear ‘a Fly’s Foot typing on water’, or feeling inspired to go for a swim to ‘change ourselves into the fish dimension’.”
We hope this week’s newsletter brings you a moment of calm, and perhaps inspires you to spend a little time by the water this summer.
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