Deep in the northwestern outskirts of England, a revolutionary idea sparked from a vintage ambulance in 2011 when Deborah Alma, 60, decided to use poetry as a form of medicine. She became known as the “Emergency Poet” as she drove her ambulance around the county and dispensed first aid of the literary kind. She would ask those in need to lie down and answer some questions. And then Alma, dressed in a white coat and a stethoscope, would present them with a quick poem; or customers could self-prescribe from small bottles of poems rolled into pill-like capsules.
Eight years later Alma turned her emergency literary services into a permanent store in the quirky town of Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire. There, she created the first-of-its kind prescription poem service for the town’s artists, musicians and residents seeking alternative therapies. In June of 2024, Alma opened a second pharmacy on Oxford Street in London with plans to open more locations in the future.
The Poetry Pharmacy isn’t a typical bookstore or pharmacy. The bookstore part is curated in sections based on the stages of life: emotional states, comfort, first aid, joy, becoming, and wild remedy so people can browse and find a book that will lift their mood.
All these sections match the pharmacy section’s famous poetry remedies. Shelves lined with bottles of pills, each filled with capsules containing unique rolled-up poems. Customers can select from a variety of “prescription” pill bottles, including joy, hope, comfort, compassion, inspiration, invigoration, mindfulness, resilience and more. Some bottles address “ailments” such as dithering, exhaustion, insomnia, indecision, writer’s block and empty nest syndrome. And then there are the popular yet basic “chill pills” and “happy pills.”
An in-house cafe in the pharmacy sells drinks named after poets. Wordsworth is decaf, Byron is smoky and gives you “‘a kick up the ass,”’ which is how she describes it in the menu. Browning, Rosetti and Keats are other coffee drinks named after poets. Alma also periodically makes “potion” drinks for children so they don’t feel excluded.
“I think one of the other things that The Poetry Pharmacy does, is it brings poetry to people who might not even know that they could be interested in it,” said Pat Edwards, who has helped Alma realize her pharmacy dream from its ambulance inception. “So we’re not necessarily selling poetry to poets… This bookshop, and this ethos and this idea really helps to bring poetry to people who wouldn’t expect to perhaps find it something that they enjoyed. It’s very accessible.”
The first Poetry Pharmacy began in an old ironmonger shop. The previous owners had left it a mess, with hooks on the ceiling, shelves scattered throughout, clutter stacked to the ceiling and dust encompassing every inch of exposed items.
It took multiple teams of people and a crowdfunding effort to get it in shape, but many people loved the idea and wanted to be a part of it. Alma wanted to maintain the vintage feel of the shop. With the help of friends and benefactors, she transformed it into a beloved bookshop.
Edwards started writing poetry 11 years ago while she wasn’t feeling well and started writing in a journal about what was going on in her life. This turned into “very simple poetry,” in her words. She began attending workshops and reading lots of poetry.
“I personally found poetry really really useful at a difficult time, and I think because poems are short,” she said. “They hit you quickly. It’s an investment that we’re all able to make in our busy lives and that gives us so much back.”
Edwards is thankful to Alma for letting her stay by her side this whole time. She now works in the Poetry Pharmacy’s cafe at Bishops Castle and in the bookshop as well, helping customers who fawn over the idea to which Pat always replies “It’s not mine, it’s Deborah Alma’s.” She’s always happy to tell customers how it all started since so many people are fascinated by the idea.
Nurses have come from North Wales in search of The Poetry Pharmacy, showing their interest in alternative therapies and buying books and “pill” bottles to use in their practices.
The Oxford Street store in London came about after Alma entered a competition for new businesses through “Not on the High Street,” a website that brings together unusual gift companies that are quite literally “Not on the High Street.” It’s supported many new entrepreneurial businesses, and Alma was shortlisted for an award but did not win.
However, Mark Constantine, one of the judges who is the CEO of the cosmetic company Lush, loved her idea and wanted her to win. He contacted her afterward seeking a collaboration.
It started with three bath bombs. Alma provided a few lines of poetry inside each one so that when it dissolved, a poem would be left for the bather to read. Sales flourished and the pair continued to collaborate for different holidays. Eventually, Constantine suggested that Alma open a shop in London. She wanted to but didn’t quite have the resources. Constantine kept pushing her, so she spent a year trying but failing to find the perfect location.
Then Constantine offered her the second floor in the Lush store on Oxford Street. They negotiated an arrangement and turned the upstairs into a second Poetry Pharmacy.
They had to go into extra production of the poetry pills. Previously, they had outsourced them to friends and family who would sit and hand-roll the lines of poetry and assemble the bottles together while watching TV.
Their gamble paid off. London residents and tourists went crazy for the pill bottles, and soon Alma was selling hundreds per week. She’s since made an outlet in Bishop’s Castle, which her son runs and serves as the production manager. Some 40 area workers fill the pills with poems at home. The Poetry Pharmacy has now provided employment to people in Shropshire, who help send hundreds of prescription poetry pill bottles to London.
Katie Dunstan has worked at The Poetry Pharmacy on Oxford Street since it opened in June. She is a published poet with features in Candlestick Press, Ten Poems of Hope and the 89th issue of Magma Poetry with her poem: For Kristina, who I met on the train from Manchester to London.
Dunstan loves poetry and how it can make you feel. “I think we’re obsessed with making meaning,” she said, “and I think poetry goes ‘Tell me how that felt for you,’ and depending on where you are in your life and what’s going on, a poem will feel different. I could read a poem today, and I could read it tomorrow and it will feel completely different.”
“It’s my hope that when people come in they feel able to wonder, and they feel able to dwell and take time. We’re on one of the busiest streets and I think if we can give people a moment to pause, that’s really valuable,” Dunstan said.
Her coworker Jack, who declined to give his last name, is more of a consumer and lover of poetry than a writer. “It’s the truest way of expressing a feeling or emotion because it’s so short and concise, and I suppose a poet’s job is to condense a feeling into as few words as possible,” he said.
Jack loves seeing customers’ reactions to the Pharmacy. “You see the joy on people’s faces,” he said. People just absolutely love it, they come in and they’re just like ‘Wow’… I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
The Poetry Pharmacy is now selling its products on its website, where you can purchase whatever type of literary medicine or books you’re in need of. Alma plans on expanding her shops but is happy at the minute with everything being locally sourced and supplied.