I began writing the Lifesaving Poems posts in May, 2011.
Below is a list of the twenty most popular poems I have written about, based on my WordPress statistics.
Mary Oliver, ‘The Journey’
Ted Hughes, ‘Wind’
UA Fanthorpe, ‘Atlas’
Seamus Heaney, ‘Night Drive’
Derek Mahon, ‘Everything is Going to be All Right’
Brendan Kennelly, ‘May the Silence Break’
Tomas Tranströmer, ‘Alone’
John Logan, ‘The Picnic’
Simon Armitage, ‘To His Lost Lover’
Marie Howe, ‘Prayer’
Julia Darling, ‘Chemottherapy’ / Psalm 102
Charles Causley, ‘Who?’
Sylvia Plath, ‘Mushrooms’
Carl Sandburg, ‘Buffalo Dusk’
Galway Kinnell, ‘Saint Francis and the Sow’
Marin Sorescu, ‘With Only One Life’
Carol Ann Duffy, ‘Words, Wide Night’
Billy Collins, ‘Morning’
Rose Cook, ‘Poem for someone who is juggling her life’
Yves Bonnefoy, ‘Let a Place be Made’
Published by Anthony Wilson
I am a lecturer, poet and writing tutor. I work in teacher and medical education at the University of Exeter. My anthology Lifesaving Poems was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2015. In 2012 I published Riddance (Worple Press), a collection of poems, and Love for Now (Impress Books), a memoir, about my experience of cancer. The Wind and the Rain, my sixth collection of poems, is available now from Blue Diode Publishing. My current research project, funded by the Foyle Foundation, is Young Poets' Stories: https://youngpoetsstories.com/. This blog is archived by the British Library.
View all posts by Anthony Wilson
Lifesaving Poems 
I have a tale to tell you about a hull taxi driver and Philip Larkinâ¦.
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Can’t wait!
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I always read your blog, but this one took me hours, days even. I looked up each reference even of the poems I knew, to see what you had to say. And I could address each one (is it possible to see those BBC2 poetry readings – Simon Armitage?), but the one about Billy Collins – i could have written what you said about him, exactly my experience. Thank you, i will keep going back to this list.
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Thank you Meg, so pleased you like it and are still finding new stuff to look at. As ever with best wishes
Anthony
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But I don’t like that photograph – can’t make it out.
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Hi Meg, well you can’t please everyone. It is the fibre glass legs of a sculpture lying on the grass in a sculptor friend’s of mine garden, next to one of his kids’ bikes.
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What a fascinating list — one I’ve already bookmarked for future referencing.
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Thank you!
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Jeepers creepers… I just sourced some of the above and will now have to add the remainder to my list! Thanks… my credit card says otherwise!
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Sorry to add to financial woes, but so pleased the poems resonated with you!
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Great list! Thank you…. Would love to compare lists some time with the catalogue of poems as friends that we’re gathering http://www.thepoetryexchange.co.uk/listen/
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