'Emergency Poet' at world's first walk-in poetry pharmacy prescribes caring words

Deborah Alma, aka the Emergency Poet, has permanently parked her vintage ambulance and opened the doors of the Poetry Pharmacy in Shropshire to prescribe poetry to people in need.

The Emergency Poet began by travelling up and down the country in her 1979 vintage ambulance, prescribing poetry at festival settings, schools, conferences and various other events.

’It’s all about listening to the person and taking them to a lovely place’

Seven years ago, the Shropshire poet decided to become an Emergency Poet when she spotted an ambulance for sale on the internet. “I was just going to do it for one festival that I was volunteering at and people really liked the idea.” Ms Alma was asked to go to more festivals and do work in schools, and it was then her career took off.

Since then, Ms Alma has taken her ambulance all over the country including Ireland and St Andrews in Scotland. “That is the furthest north I’ve been to a festival but with no power steering and the top speed of 55mph, driving this heavy thing was really hard work.”

Ms Alma has also worked with the elderly and has seen how poetry can affect a change in a mood. “What we used to do is either in small groups or one to one depending on the stages of dementia talk to people about different things.

“We flew little kites outside and cheese and wine tastings just to get people talking, then I used to write down exactly what people said verbatim and make poems out of the things they were telling me.

“It helped care staff as they did not know any of these stories and [the elderly] liked having their story there as they didn’t have to remember it.”

In early October, Ms Alma parked her ambulance and opened the doors to the Poetry Pharmacy. It consists of a workshop and performance space, café, shop and a consultant room where people can go and share their worries.

Ms Alma, along with her partner, writer and poet James Sheard, embarked on the adventure due to their shared love of poetry and purchased an iron monger’s shop on the Bishop's Castle high street.

“It’s bringing poetry on the high street and so far, it’s been really successful. The Poetry Pharmacy is not just about consultations.” Ms Alma said: “It’s a shop where we stock poetry books and gifts that really make you feel better. We have a café and upstairs there is a big workshop space where people come to workshops and reading groups. So, there’s a lot of poetry going on. It’s been really busy.”

Ms Alma does free consultations on Friday afternoons and people come in for different reasons including relationship issues, grief and loss, retirement, work stresses, bullying at work, friendship issues. She said: “The thing that people most want to talk about is the stresses of modern life. It’s not proper therapy, it’s a positive experience. I don’t ask them about their problems, I ask them about how they relax, about the books that they like to read, the places they like to go to.

“It’s all about listening to the person and taking them to a lovely place, having them put their feet up, be listened to and being asked questions that are unusual. It feels like when you have an aromatherapy massage. It feels like a treat rather than going to the doctor. And then at the end of the session, they might say I need a poem because my parent died.”

With an anthology of around 300 poems printed out for different prescriptions, Ms Alma does not read the full poem to her client. Instead, she will get to know the person by asking them questions about themselves, why they want the poem.

She said: “Then I choose the poem. I might read them a little bit of the poem and say why I have chosen this poem for you and I might read out a line which is very appropriate. After a prescription of poetry is given out: “They take the poem away to read it themselves quietly.”

’If someone has a broken heart, they hang on to the poem to help them out a bit’

The poems Ms Alma prescribes are very positive. “They’re all about looking after yourself and being gentle with yourself. They are always written by someone who has come out of it and is showing the way out. People hang on to the words.

“If someone has a broken heart, they hang on to the poem to help them out a bit. It’s a poem about looking after yourself.

“I didn’t expect it to have such a positive effect for people. They stick it on their fridge, they have kept their poem for years. It becomes their poem.”

Ms Alma’s passion for poetry came when she was a little girl. She said: “My grandmother really liked poetry and my dad used to write some poetry and I liked poetry in primary school. I was a shy girl with glasses who was really into books and reading. Then I went to work for a publisher and did my degree in creative writing. I found the best thing I was best at was writing poetry.”

The feedback from people has been really positive: Ms Alma said: “Everyone really loves it. I have never advertised what I do and word of mouth. Each time I do something, someone else hears about it and I get asked to do another thing.

When asked what is the most popular poem you read to people, Ms Alma said: “It depends on the person after listening to them. I try to get the right poem for the right person so they’re not put off. So, the language is contemporary if they’re a younger person.

"There’s a poem Try to Praise the Mutilated World by Adam Zagajewski and Arrival by RS Thomas. They are poems which remind you about the beautiful things.” Ms Alma’s favourite poem is Snow by Louis MacNeice.

To visit the Poetry Pharmacy for more information click here