this might take me a little time

When the world feels uncertain, it is tempting to look backwards. We may have a tendency to revisit old certainties, dreaming of memories from our past and investing them with more depth and gloss than they might deserve. We might imagine a simpler past, a time before things became complicated, fractured or strange. Individually and collectively, we can find ourselves longing for a return to something familiar.

Yet the past, however comforting, is not a place we can inhabit. More often than not, it is a story we tell ourselves about where we have come from.

Many philosophical traditions suggest that suffering arises when we resist change, when we insist that things should remain as they were. It might sometimes be true that we cling to old versions of ourselves, old grievances and expectations. Sometimes we can hold on to old ideas about the world itself. In doing so, we may gain a temporary sense of certainty, but at the cost of openness to what might emerge.

The poets tend to be suspicious of such certainty. They remind us that life is movement, that seasons turn and bodies age. Relationships evolve or are lost altogether and communities change around us. The future is not built by preserving things exactly as they are, but by meeting change with imagination, courage and curiosity. 

To let go is not to abandon what matters. It is to release our grip on what no longer serves us. It is to distinguish memory from nostalgia, wisdom from certainty, roots from anchors. Perhaps letting go is not an ending at all. Perhaps it is an act of faith in the future.

In that spirit, we are delighted to introduce a new addition to our shelves: Letting Go Cards, created by The School of Life, and introduced by Alain de Botton here. A set of 52 thoughtful prompts, they invite us to loosen our grip on the stories we have outgrown and ask what might become possible in the space they leave behind.

Through gentle questions and quiet reflection, the cards encourage us to make peace with the past, practise self-compassion, and step a little more lightly into whatever comes next. Among the invitations you'll find are:

• What memory hurts more than you normally let on?
• I no longer want to be angry about…
• I refuse to spend any more time feeling sad about…



Alongside these, we return to writers who have long understood the difficulty and the necessity, of letting go. Their books have become trusted companions through times of change and uncertainty. When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön, A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit, The Wild Iris by Louise Glück, and The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts each remind us, in their own way, that uncertainty need not be feared. It can also be fertile ground for transformation. 

   

Book of the Month 

I Eat the Stars
By Sarah Wilson

At a time when many of us are searching for steadier ground, Sarah Wilson's I Eat the Stars offers neither easy answers nor false certainties. Instead, it invites us into a deeper conversation about impermanence, courage, wonder and what it means to be fully alive.

We asked Sarah about the poems she turns to in times of transition, the books she presses into other people's hands, and the wisdom she wishes she'd learned sooner.

• Is there a poem you return to when life feels uncertain or in transition? Something to take you to that liminal space you describe maybe?

• What is something you've learned about letting go that you wish you'd known earlier in life?

My spiritual teacher told me something about five years ago, by way of a provocation: “Sarah, do you want to be right or do you want love”. It wasn’t until that moment that I realised often you have to sacrifice one to have the other.

• A line of poetry you've carried with you for years?

WH Auden’ from The More Loving One: If equal affection cannot be, Let the more loving one be me.

• You read widely across philosophy, psychology, spirituality and literature. What book do you find yourself pressing into other people's hands most often?

The book I find myself gifting most often to loved ones in need of spiritual guidance that cuts straight to the heart of the matter is Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart. A close second is James Hollis’ What Matters Most.

• A writer you'd invite to dinner, living or dead?

So long as I was happy to leave with indigestion, Honore Balzac. There is a little museum in Paris - Maison de Balzac - located inside his home where he wrote La Comédie humaine. I highly recommend visiting the museum just to read his ode to coffee that hangs on the wall. The guy was a bon vivant, with wild ideas and a love of coffee that blows the top of my head off just to read about it (he drank 40-50 cups a day).

• What are you reading right now?

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. I don’t love it, in part because I don’t find the female characters convincing. But I’m very drawn at the moment to fiction describing the near future. It’s fascinating and instructive to understand the signals creatives are getting. As I write in my book, artists are the canaries down the mineshaft, able to go down and emerge with visions of what’s ahead.

• Early morning writing or late-night writing?

Oh gosh…neither and both…and stand-on-my head writing!! I have no discernible technique with my writing. I’m constantly scrawling and trying out sentences (on scraps of paper at a cafe, spoken into my phone when I’m out hiking). The pressure eventually mounts, something releases, and I get clarity. And off I write. I try to set up my life so that I can respond when this moment arises.

• What's one thing you hope readers might take away from I Eat the Stars?

That all of us alive today realise the responsibility we have to step up and meet this moment as adults. We just happen to be the adults in the room who were born into these difficult times. It is not a viable option to dodge for cover. When we realise this, and when we face the truth of our predicament, an incredible, relieving aliveness is afforded.

Pick up a copy of our Book of the Month from our Oxford Street or Bishop's Castle bookshop and enjoy a complimentary drink in our Dispensary Café.



'I Eat the Stars': in conversation with Sarah Wilson

We are delighted to welcome Sarah to the Poetry Pharmacy on Oxford Street for a special evening celebrating the publication of her beautiful new book.

In conversation with Poetry Pharmacy founder, Deborah Alma, Sarah will explore the deeply human questions at the heart of her writing - wonder, belonging, grief, hope, and the ways we make sense of our lives. The evening will conclude with an audience Q&A, offering the chance to continue the conversation together.

Whether you're already a reader of Sarah's work or discovering it for the first time, we hope you'll join us for what promises to be a thoughtful, inspiring and uplifting evening. Book your ticket here.

The Three-for-Two Dispensation
Offer ends on the 30th June
 

Select any three of our bottled poetic remedies, and the third will be dispensed entirely free of charge.

Because some emotional ailments require a stronger dose.

Visit us in one of our bookshops, where our poetry pharmacists will prescribe your third bottle in person, or use code RX3 at online checkout. Offer applies to all Poetry Prescriptions.

We are pleased to ship to most destinations internationally.

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