I was struck by a remark of Seamus Heaney in an interview he gave some years ago now. He was musing on how many poems can affect the life of an individual across that person’s lifetime. Was it ten, he said, twenty, fifty, a hundred, or more? This is the question that has underpinned this pet project of mine since I began it in July 2009.
Since then I have been copying out poems into a plain Moleskine notebook, one at a time, in inky longhand, when the mood took me. Allowing myself no more than one poem per poet, I wanted to see how many poems I could honour with the label ‘lifesaving’. I quickly realised it was a deeply subjective and unscientific exercise. Frequently, the poem that was copied into my book was not especially famous, certainly not representative or even the ‘best’ of that poet’s work.
My criteria were extremely basic. Was the poem one I could recall having had an immediate experience with from the first moment I read it? In short, did I feel the poem was one I could not do without?
The list below is, therefore, not a perfect anthology-style list of the great and the good. It is a list of poems I happen to feel passionate about, according to my tastes. As Billy Collins says somewhere: ‘Good poems are poems that I like’.
Copying them out into my book has not always been fun, but now that I am finished, I am in possession of a deeply satisfactory feeling of having learnt more about myself and about each poem that I copied.
Over the next weeks and months I am going to be blogging here about the stories behind the choices I made, the influences upon them, and what I learnt in the process. (Before anyone writes in, I have noticed that William Blake, along with one or two others, have snuck in with two or more choices).
Lifesaving Poems
Intense, Richard Nicholson, Read more here
The Day After, Michael Laskey, Read more here
The Sky Over My Mother’s House, Jaime Manrique, Read more here
What You Missed That Day You Were Absent from Fourth Grade, Brad Aaron Modlin, Read more here
Before, Ada Limon, Read more here
First, Carrie Fountain, Read more here
Tollund, Seamus Heaney, Read more here
Be Kind, Michael Blumenthal, Read more here
Gift, Czeslaw Milosz, Read more here
from Black Zodiac, Charles Wright Read more here
The Thing Is, Ellen Bass Read more here
When I am Asked, Lisel Mueller Read more here
Praise the Rain, Joy Harjo and Try to Praise the Mutilated World, Adam Zagajewski Read more here
Autumn, Roo Borson and You Look Outside, Malena Mörling Read more here
God’s Grief, Ellen Bass Read more here
It is Summer for Months, Peter Sansom Read more here
Tracks, Tomas Tranströmer Read more here
The People of the Other Village, Thomas Lux Read more here
Breathing Space July, Tomas Tranströmer Read more here
Settee in Autumn, Peter Sansom Read more here
Bike, Michael Laskey Read more here
Question, May Swenson Read more here
Mixed Feelings, John Ashbery Read more here
Below Zero, Tomas Tranströmer Read more here
Courage, Anne Sexton Read more here
On the Edge, Dorianne Laux Read more here
The Layers, Stanley Kunitz Read more here
Struggling, Mark Robinson Read more here
The Schoolchildren, Pedro Serrano Read more here
Dying, Robert Pinsky Read more here
Simply Lit, Malena Mörling Read more here
‘The washing never gets done’, Jaan Kaplinski Read more here
Save Us From, Roo Borson Read more here
Endymion, John Keats Read more here
Practice, Ellen Bryant Voigt Read more here
Any Common Desolation, Ellen Bass Read more here
Another Loss to Stop For, Jill Bialosky Read more here
As Planned, Frank O’Hara Read more here
Empathy and New Year, James Schuyler Read more here
A Blessing in Disguise, John Ashbery Read more here
The Half-Finished Heaven, Tomas Tranströmer Read more here
Waiting for the Barbarians, C. P. Cavafy Read more here
Going, Philip Larkin Read more here
Poem Without Sleep, Carrie Fountain Read more here
The Curtain Falls, Stuart Pickford Read more here
Reading Frank O’Hara in Hospital, Tom Andrews, Read more here
A Rainy Morning, Ted Kooser, Read more here
August 1914, Isaac Rosenberg, Read more here
By Any Other Name, Tania Hershman, Read more here
You say “drone”, Josephine Corcoran, Read more here
Time does not bring relief, Edna St Vincent Millay, Read more here
my way is in the sand flowing, Samuel Beckett, Read more here
The Negro Speaks About Rivers, Langston Hughes, Read more here
The Dead Woman (La Muerta), Pablo Neruda, Read more here
The Advantages of Learning, Kenneth Rexroth, Read more here
The Soho Hospital for Women (IV), Fleur Adcock, Read more here
Goulash, Myra Schneider, from Circling The Core Read more here
After Reading Tu Fu, I Go Outside to the Dwarf Orchard, Charles Wright Read more here
Thank you Lord, thank you, Michel Quoist, from Prayers Read more here
The Sofas, Fogs, and Cinemas, Rosemary Tonks, from Bedouin of the London Evening Read more here
A Misremembered Lyric, Denis Riley Read more here
Damp white imprints dog the feet, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Read more here
I Am Not I,Juan Ramón Jiménez, Read more here
And Yet the Books, Czeslaw Milosz, from Collected Poems, Read more here
Hamlet, Boris Pasternak, from Selected Poems, Read more here
The Secret, Denise Levertov, from O Taste and See: New Poems, Read more here
Be Here First, Ellen Doré Watson, from Dogged Hearts, Read more here
The Burning of the Houses, Chrissy Williams, from Flying into the Bear, Read more here
The Art of Disappearing, Naomi Shihab Nye, from Words Under the Words, Read more here
Table, Edip Cansever, trs. Julia Clare Tillinghast and Richard Tillinghast, from Being Human Read more here
Father’s Day 1970, Kath MacKay from Anyone Left Standing Read more here
Sugar in Banana Sandwiches,Martyn Crucefix from Beneath Tremendous Rain Read more here
Middle Ages, Tonnus Oosterhoff Read more here
In the Desert Knowing Nothing, Helen Dunmore Read more here
Poem for someone who is juggling her life, Rose Cook, from Notes From a Bright FieldRead more here
Tamoxifen, Alison Mosquera, from The Poetry Cure Read more here
Timetable, Kate Clanchy, from Slattern Read more here
from In the Wake of Home, Adrienne Rich, from Your Native Land, Your Life Read more here
How It All Started, Catherine Smith, from Lip Read more here
Rondeau Redouble, Dorothy Nimmo, from The Wigbox: New and Selected Poems Read more here
The Switch, by Laura Apol from Crossing the Ladder of SunRead more here
Underneath the mathematics of time, by Anon Read more here
Things I Learned at University, by Kate Bingham Read more here
Let a place be made,Yves Bonnefoy, from European Poems on the Underground Read more here
‘This morning was cold’, Jaan Kaplinksi (trs. Jaan Kaplinski, Sam Hammill and Riina Tamm), from The Wandering Border Read more here
Prosser, Raymond Carver, from Fires Read more here
Night Drive, Seamus Heaney, from DoorInto the DarkRead more here
A Letter to Peter Levi, Elizabeth Jennings, from Selected Poems Read more here
K563, Peter Sansom, from Everything You’ve Heard is True Read more here
Era, Jo Shapcott, from Of Mutability Read more here
Corminboeuf 157, Robert Rehder, from The Compromises Will be Different Read more here
Bike, Michael Laskey, from The Tightrope Wedding Read more here
To My Heart at the close of the Day, Kenneth Koch, from New Addresses Read more here
May the Silence Break, Brendan Kennelly, from A Time for Voices Read more here
Words, Wide Night, Carol Ann Duffy, from The Other Country Read more here
Duty Psychiatrist, Emily Riall, from A Sinkful of Sky Read more here
Mansize, Maura Dooley, from Explaining Magnetism Read more here
Aunt Julia, Norman MacCaig, from Worlds Read more here
Twilight, Margaret Avison, from The Essential Margaret AvisonRead more here
Tides, Hugo Williams, from The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry Read more here
Fishermen, Alasdair Paterson, from Strictly Private Read more here
On Roofs of Terry Street, Douglas Dunn, from The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry Read more here
Coming Home, Carol Rumens, from The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry Read more here
One Cigarette, Edwin Morgan, from Worlds Read more here
Autobiography, Thom Gunn, from Worlds Read more here
The bookbinder, Clare Best, from Excisions Read more here
Psalm, Wisława Szymborska, from Miracle Fair Read more here
This is what I wanted to sign off with, Alden Nowlan, from The Poetry Cure Read more here
Wind, Ted Hughes, from Worlds Read more here
Riddle (No. 7), Anon (trs. Kevin Crossley-Holland), from The Exeter Book: Riddles Read more here
Alone, Tomas Tranströmer (trs. Robin Fulton), from New Collected Poems Read more here
A Private Life, John Burnside, from Swimming in the Flood Read more here
Sunday Lunchtime, Connie Bensley, from Choosing to be a Swan Read more here
Eating Outside, Stephen Berg, from New and Selected Poems Read more here
A Lyric Afterwards, Tom Paulin, from The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry Read more here
I am a Finn, James Tate, from Emergency Kit Read more here
The Missing Poem, Mark Halliday, from JabRead more here
Love, Miroslav Holub (trs. Ian Milner,) from Touchstones 5 Read more here
The Picnic, John Logan, from Touchstones 5 Read more here
June 30, 1974, James Schuyler, from Collected Poems Read more here
Heliographer, Don Paterson, from Nil Nil Read more here
An Horatian Notion, Thomas Lux, from New and Selected Poems Read more here
Jet, Tony Hoagland, from Donkey Gospel Read more here
Reading the Books Our Children Have Written, Dave Smith, fromThe Faber Book of Contemporary American Poetry Read more here
Song of Reasons, Robert Pinsky,fromThe Faber Book of Contemporary American Poetry Read more here
Elegy for Jane, Theodore Roethke, from Poetry in the Making Read more here
‘No Worst, There is None’, Gerard Manley Hopkins, from Poems and Prose Read more here
Poetry, Iain Chrichton Smith, from Ends and Beginnings Read more here
Epilogue, Robert Lowell, from Day by Day Read more here
Down by the Station, Early in the Morning, John Ashbery, from The Faber Book of Contemporary American PoetryRead more here
Birth of the Foal, Ferenc Juhasz (trs. David Wevill), from The Rattlebag Read more here
Mushrooms, Sylvia Plath, from Collected Poems Read more here
Cups, Gwen Harwood, from Emergency Kit Read more here
The Middle Kingdom, John Ash, from Selected Poems Read more here
Looking at them Asleep, Sharon Olds, from The Matter of This World Read more here
Kin, C.K. Williams, from New and Selected Poems Read more here
Why I Am Not a Painter, Frank O’Hara, from Selected Poems Read more here
With Only One Life, Marin Sorescu, from The Biggest Egg in the World Read more here
My Shoes, Charles Simic, from Selected Poems: 1963-2003 Read more here
I Cavalli di Leonardo, Rutger Kopland (trs, James Brockway), fromMemories of the Unknown Read more here
Deep Third Man, Hubert Moore, from The Hearing Room Read more here
Nightwatchman, Peter Carpenter, from After the Goldrush Read more here
Results, Siân Hughes, from The Missing Read more here
Groundsmen, David Scott, from Selected Poems Read more here
Avocados, Esther Morgan, from Beyond Calling Distance Read more here
The Beautiful Appartments, George Messo, from Entrances Read more here
Morning on Earth, Piotr Sommer, from Continued Read more here
The Lack of You, Lawrence Sail, from Building into Air Read more here
The Only Son in the Fish ‘n’ Chip Shop, Geoff Hattersley, from Back of Beyond Read more here
Swineherd, Eiléan ní Chuilleanáin, from Emergency Kit Read more here
Chemotherapy, Julia Darling, from Sudden Collapses in Public Places Read more here
Psalm 102, of David, from The Old Testament Read more here
Instructor, Ann Sansom, from Vehicle Read more here
Buffalo Dusk, Carl Sandburg, from This Poem Doesn’t Rhyme Read more here
Some of the Usual, Naomi Jaffa, from The Last Hour of Sleep Read more here
Caring for the Environment, Mandy Sutter, from Greek Gifts Read more here
An Upstairs Kitchen, Susannah Amoore, from Poetry Introduction 6 Read more here
Morning, Caroline Yasunaga, from Hard Lines 3Read more here
Heaven on Earth, Craig Raine, from The PBS Anthology 1986/87 Read more here
Atlas, U.A. Fanthorpe, from Safe as Houses Read more here
The Black Wet, W.N. Herbert, from New Blood Read more here
To His Lost Lover, Simon Armitage, from The Book of Matches Read more here
From the Irish, Ian Duhig, from Short and Sweet Read more here
Slaughterhouse, Hilary Menos, from Berg Read more here
High Fidelity, Christopher Southgate, from Easing the Gravity Field Read more here
Mercifully ordain that we may become aged together, Ann Gray, from At the Gate Read more here
I Would Like to Be a Dot in a Painting by Miro, Moniza Alvi, from The Country at My Shoulder Read more here
Photograph in a Stockholm Newspaper for March 13, 1910, Don Coles, from Someone has Stayed in Stockholm: New and Selected Poems Read more here
Machines, Michael Donaghy, from Shibboleth Read more here
Before, Sean O’Brien, from Emergency Kit Read more here
The Ingredient, Martin Stannard, from The Gracing of Days Read more here
The Birkdale Nightingale, Jean Sprackland, from Tilt Read more here
Prayer/Why I am Happy to be in the City This Spring, Andy Brown, from Goose Music Read more here
Ultramarine, Michael Symmons Roberts, from Raising Sparks Read more here
Domestic Bliss, Mark Robinson, from The Horse Burning Park Read more here
To Autumn, John Keats, from The RattlebagRead more here
Goodbye, Adrian Mitchell, from Worlds Read more here
The Tyger, William Blake, from The Rattlebag Read more here
Birches, Robert Frost, from The Rattlebag Read more here
Annunciation, Gillian Allnutt, from How the Bicycle Shone: New and Selected Poems Read more here
Literary Portrait, Evangeline Paterson, from Lucifer at the Fair Read more here
‘A man called Percival Lee’, Spike Milligan, from The 101 Best and Only Limericks of Spike MilliganRead more here
‘I always wanted to go on the stage’, Roger McGough, from Unlucky for Some Read more here
Everybody Verybody, Michael Rosen Read more here
The Dog, Christopher North, from A Mesh of Wires Read more here
On the Impossibility of Staying Alive, Ian McMillan, from Selected Poems Read more here
Let Evening Come, Jane Kenyon, from Let Evening Come Read more here
Saint Francis and the Sow, Galway Kinnell, from Selected PoemsRead more here
Ghost of a Chance, John Harvey, from Ghosts of a Chance Read more here
What it’s Like to be Alive, Deryn Rees Jones, from Signs Round a Dead Body Read more here
Praying Mantis, Yorifumi Yaguchi, from Three Mennonite Poets Read more here
Poem, Elizabeth Bishop, from The Faber Book of Contemporary American Poetry Read more here
Morning, Billy Collins, from Picnic, Lightning Read more here
Prayer, Marie Howe, from The Kingdom of Ordinary Time Read more here
The Way We Live, Kathleen Jamie, from The Way We Live Read more here
Dusting the Phone, Jackie Kay, from Other Lovers Read more here
Women Who Dye Their Hair, Janet Fisher, from Women Who Dye Their Hair Read more here
Who?, Charles Causley, from Collected Poems for Children Read more here
The Journey, Mary Oliver, from New and Selected Poems Vol. 1 Read more here
Early Summer, Peter Scupham, from The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry Read more here
Wet Evening in April, Patrick Kavanagh, from Collected Poems Read more here
Paris, Paul Muldoon, from The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry Read more here
Let’s Celebrate, Mandy Coe, from Clay Read more here
Hysteria, T.S. Eliot, from Collected Poems: 1909-1962 Read more here
Magpiety, Philip Levine, from Stranger to Nothing Read more here
Silence, Stephen Dobyns, from Velocities: New and Selected Poems Read more here
Boggle Hole, Cliff Yates, from Frank Freeman’s Dancing School Read more here
in Just, ee cummings, from Wordscapes Read more here
The Divine Image, William Blake, from The Human Dress (Lies Damned Lies) Read more here
Wintering, Matthew Hollis, from Ground Water Read more here
Not Me, Shel Silverstein, from Poetry Explored: 5-8 Read more here
Everything is Going to be All Right, Derek Mahon, from Selected Poems Read more here
8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970, Tom Raworth, from Jumpstart Read more here
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Anthony Wilson 
I saw in your Twitter account your quote from Les Murray and his credit here – it brings to mind of a visit he made to my school in Darwin NT in Oz. I was most impressed, have never forgotten the visit, or his personality, although sadly I have forgotten the poems he read! Well obviously I was very young!
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I interviewed him once. He is a great human and great poet. Thanks so much for commenting, Anthony
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Hi Anthony
I’m really honoured to see one of my poems included in your list. You have no idea how cheering this is. Many many thanks!
Mandy S
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Dear Mandy
It is a pleasure! I wanted to put in the poems which had made their mark on me in any way whatsoever since I have been reading poetry. I’ve been writing the series on my blog for a year or so now, and am still just as excited as when I started. So many great poems to look forward to, including yours.
As ever with best wishes
Anthony
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I’ve said it before, Ant, but thank you for reintroducing me to poetry and helping me to understand its power. I’m still getting over my bad experiences at school, but I’m getting there with your posts.
Hopefully catch up in the flesh soon?
Martin
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Hi Martin!
Thanks for taking the time to comment on this. It really means a lot. So pleased these posts are helping you overcome what went on at school. As ever with best wishes and thanks
Ant
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Thanks for this list, will try finding these poems.. would love to see my poems on that list one day though 🙂 .. thanks again for sharing
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Dear Gloria
Many thanks for your kind comments and for your interest in my blog. I wish you happy reading!
As ever, yours
Anthony
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Many thanks for this – more routes to explore within the ‘walled city.’ I’ll be dipping in and out throughout my day
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Thank you for saying so Alison. Yours with good wishes and happy reading
Anthony
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… just a note of appreciation to you Anthony…. so much to enjoy and learn from in your work.. it all goes very deep, out here, into lives…. thank you so much.
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Hi Rob
I appreciate your kind comment of encouragement very much indeed. Thank you. It’s great to know someone is out there reading these things!
As ever with good wishes
Anthony
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Hi Anthony…. I am running groups in Bristol Libraries – funded by my trusty hat at the end of each session – on Creative Writing for Health and Well-Being; good groups, quite large, and full of vim and openness. Your suggestions are so good for this kind of work, and actively help people to experience their own life journeys and reflect on them. Thanks again! Rob
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Robbie
Thank you for letting me know this. It is great to hear how people are using the poems and the site, just like poems once they leave the nest, they no longer belong to you. Good luck in all your work, it sounds challenging and absolutely necessary. As ever with thanks
Anthony
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Reblogged this on SOCIAL BRIDGE and commented:
Anthony Wilson’s Blog is one of my absolute MUST READS and I just love this post in which he lists HIS Lifesaving Poems. What an absolute treat and one to be re-visited over and over.
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So much to discover here. Thank you for this list. I always find it hard finding new poetry that I actually like. So far so good with these. X
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I’m so pleased you have found things which resonate. Happy reading!
http://www.anthonywilsonpoetry.com
>
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I might borrow this idea – I usually just copy out phrases/lines from poems or songs that really move me into my writer’s notebook (a teeny tiny notebook about the size of my palm)- but it sounds like an interesting exercise in both discipline and self-exploration!
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Thanks for the wonderful list! I am looking forward to discovering new poems and revisiting some old favourites! My heart rejoices knowing their content will drop me deeper into that deeper presence.
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