Neil Astley is editor of Bloodaxe Books, which he founded in 1978. His books include novels, poetry collections and anthologies, most notably those in Bloodaxe's Staying Alive anthology series: Staying Alive (2002), Being Alive (2004), Being Human (2011), and Staying Human (2020), a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation; and three collaborations with Pamela Robertson-Pearce, Soul Food: nourishing poems for starved minds (2008), and the DVD-books In Person: 30 Poets (2008) and In Person: World Poets (2017). He has published two novels, The End of My Tether (2002), which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award, and The Sheep Who Changed the World (2005). He received an Eric Gregory Award for his poetry, was given a D.Litt from Newcastle University for his work with Bloodaxe Books, and in 2018 was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He also guest-edited a transatlantic all-poetry issue of the American literary journal Ploughshares, the first such issue in its 43-year history. He lives in the Tarset Valley of Northumberland, England.

• Various 18 Poets on poetryNeil Astley 19 IntroductionMary Oliver 28 Wild Geese 1 Body and soulDenise Levertov 31 LivingAndrew Greig 31 Orkney / This LifeAlistair Elliot 32 Northern MorningRaymond Carver 33 HappinessJames Merrill 33 My Father’s Irish SettersVernon Scannell 35 LegsLucille Clifton 36 homage to my hipsGwen Harwood 36 Naked VisionThom Gunn 37 The HugTess Gallagher 38 The HugElizabeth Bishop 39 Chemin de FerAlden Nowlan 40 He Sits Down on the Floor of a School for the RetardedLes Murray 41 An Absolutely Ordinary RainbowMichael Longley 43 A PrayerCarol Ann Duffy 43 PrayerCzesław Miłosz 44 EncounterRainer Maria Rilke 44 from The Tenth Duino ElegyDenise Levertov 45 Variation on a Theme by RilkeGjertrud Schnackenberg 46 from A Gilded Lapse of TimeKevin Hart 47 Dark AngelNina Cassian 48 TemptationSylvia Plath 48 Poppies in OctoberOsip Mandelstam 49 ‘Eyesight of Wasps’David Constantine 49 The WaspsCharles Simic 50 The Old WorldRobert Bly 50 Watering the HorseChase Twichell 51 Saint AnimalCarol Rumens 51 JarrowStephen Dobyns 52 Where We Are 2 Roads and journeysRobert Frost 55 The Road Not TakenJames K. Baxter 55 The BayElizabeth Garrett 56 Tyranny of ChoiceStevie Smith 57 Not Waving but DrowningSimon Armitage 57 PoemCarl Sandburg 58 ChooseVladimír Holan 58 Meeting in a LiftE.E. Cummings 58 ‘i thank You God for most this amazing’Dennis O’Driscoll 59 YouBrendan Kennelly 60 BeginLouis MacNeice 60 EntirelyAdrienne Rich 61 IntegrityGalway Kinnell 63 The BearDelmore Schwartz 66 The Heavy Bear Who Goes with MeJohn Berryman 67 from Dream SongsTracey Herd 67 from Some mangled dream songs for HenryFreda Downie 68 WindowMiroslav Holub 69 The doorKapka Kassabova 70 The DoorRobert Frost 71 DirectiveGillian Allnutt 72 The Road HomeRobert Frost 73 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningLouis MacNeice 74 SnowPaul Muldoon 74 HistoryMaura Dooley 75 HistoryVladimír Holan 75 SnowLawrence Sail 76 The CablecarGalway Kinnell 77 That Silent EveningMary Oliver 78 The JourneyHelen Dunmore 79 When You’ve GotMuriel Rukeyser 80 YesStephen Dunn 81 HappinessMichael Donaghy 81 MachinesTomas Tranströmer 82 AloneMenna Elfyn 83 CouplingsWilliam Stafford 84 Traveling through the DarkJohn Burnside 84 PenitenceW.N. Herbert 86 Slow Animals CrossingElizabeth Bishop 87 The MooseThomas Lux 92 Wife Hits Moose 3 Dead or aliveJaan Kaplinski 95 ‘To eat a pie and to have it…’Louise Glück 95 TrilliumElizabeth Daryush 96 ‘I saw the daughter of the sun…’Frieda Hughes 97 StonepickerMarin Sorescu 97 The ArrowChristopher Logue 98 Be Not Too HardCharles Simic 99 Modern SorceryVona Groarke 99 Tonight of YesterdayHayden Carruth 100 SonnetJames Wright 100 Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s FarmWilliam Empson 101 Missing DatesWeldon Kees 101 VillanelleGjertrud Schnackenberg 102 SignsGalway Kinnell 103 from When One Has Lived a Long Time AloneBrendan Kennelly 103 My Dark FathersKit Wright 104 Hoping It Might Be SoCharles Wright 105 Clear NightRobert Bly 106 DefeatedTheodore Roethke 106 The WakingKapka Kassabova 107 MiragesEibhlín Nic Eochaidh 108 How to kill a living thingAnne Michaels 109 from SublimationChase Twichell 110 HorseEiléan Ní Chuilleanáin 111 SwineherdKathleen Jamie 111 The way we liveConnie Bensley 112 ApologiaRosemary Tonks 113 Addiction to an Old MattressFleur Adcock 113 ThingsElma Mitchell 114 Thoughts After RuskinElizabeth Bartlett 115 Themes for WomenMaura Dooley 116 What Every Woman Should CarryRuth Fainlight 116 HandbagJenny Joseph 117 WarningTheodore Roethke 117 DolorElizabeth Bishop 118 One ArtLouise Glück 119 LamiumMay Sarton 119 A Glass of WaterStephen Dunn 120 SadnessStephen Dunn 121 SweetnessAlden Nowlan 122 The ExecutionJames Wright 123 A Note Left in Jimmy Leonard’s ShackBertolt Brecht 124 Epistle on SuicideStevie Smith 124 Harold’s LeapAnne Sexton 125 Her KindTracey Herd 126 Anne Sexton’s Last Letter to GodRobert Frost 128 My November GuestEdward Thomas 128 She DotesR.S. Thomas 129 The CryVachel Lindsay 130 The Leaden-EyedEzra Pound 130 And the Days Are Not Full EnoughDouglas Dunn 130 A Removal from Terry Street 4 BittersweetMatthew Sweeney 133 Tube Ride to Martha’sPeter Reading 133 from Ukulele MusicKen Smith 135 Against the grainWislawa Szymborska 135 The One Twenty PubIzet Sarajlic 137 Luck in SarajevoMichael Longley 137 All of These PeopleMuriel Rukeyser 138 Waking This MorningDouglas Dunn 138 I Am a CameramanPhilip Gross 140 from The Wasting GameLeontia Flynn 143 BrinkwomanshipKen Smith 144 HereU.A. Fanthorpe 144 The UnprofessionalsStewart Conn 145 Visiting HourCarole Satyamurti 145 from Changing the SubjectNick Drake 150 The CureCharles Simic 150 Past-Lives TherapyAdrienne Rich 151 Diving into the WreckRichard Wilbur 153 April 5, 1974Michael Longley 154 At Poll SalachEdward Thomas 154 ThawMichael Longley 154 ThawFleur Adcock 155 KissingLeland Bardwell 155 How my true love and I lay without touchingBasil Bunting 156 ‘You idiot!…’Randall Jarrell 157 90 NorthE.J. Scovell 158 Listening to Collared DovesDavid Constantine 159 Watching for DolphinsJo Shapcott 160 GoatPeter Didsbury 161 The DrainageHelen Dunmore 162 Three Ways of Recovering a BodyTed Hughes 163 Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three DaysSylvia Plath 164 MushroomsDerek Mahon 166 A Disused Shed in Co. WexfordJohn Burnside 167 Unwittingly 5 Growing upKen Smith 171 Being the third song of UriasSujata Bhatt 172 White AsparagusAlden Nowlan 173 It’s Good To Be HereKathleen Jamie 174 UltrasoundHelen Dunmore 178 Safe periodKona Macphee 178 IVFJane Duran 180 MiscarriageMaura Dooley 181 FreightSharon Olds 181 First BirthSharon Olds 182 Her First WeekAnne Stevenson 183 The Spirit is too Blunt an InstrumentGavin Ewart 184 Sonnet: How Life Too Is SentimentalAnne Stevenson 184 Poem for a DaughterEllen Bryant Voigt 185 DaughterAdrian Mitchell 186 Beattie Is ThreeW.D. Snodgrass 186 from Heart’s NeedleGjertrud Schnackenberg 191 Supernatural LoveBrendan Kennelly 193 Poem from a Three Year OldRoger McGough 194 CindersKenneth Rexroth 195 A Sword in a Cloud of LightJános Pilinszky 197 On the Back of a PhotographFleur Adcock 197 The VideoP.K. Page 197 Young GirlsAdrian Mitchell 198 A Puppy Called PubertyAdrian Mitchell 199 A Dog Called ElderlyPaul Muldoon 199 CubaMichael Donaghy 200 My FluCharles Simic 201 ‘We were so poor…’Robert Hayden 201 Those Winter SundaysJulia Copus 202 The Back Seat of My Mother’s CarLouise Glück 203 Mirror ImageSylvia Plath 203 MirrorAnne Carson 204 Father’s Old Blue CardiganPhilip Larkin 205 This Be the VerseCaitríona O’Reilly 205 PossessionRandall Jarrell 206 A Night with LionsJoseph Brodsky 207 from A Part of SpeechEdward Thomas 209 Old ManRandall Jarrell 211 Thinking of the Lost WorldPaul Muldoon 213 QuoofHart Crane 214 ForgetfulnessBilly Collins 214 ForgetfulnessW.S. Merwin 215 Unknown ForbearDavid Scott 216 Groundsmen 6 Man and beastLes Murray 218 PigsDennis O’Driscoll 218 Experimental AnimalsAlden Nowlan 219 WeaknessStephen Dobyns 220 Spiritual ChickensJames Dickey 221 The Heaven of AnimalsNina Cassian 222 SacrilegeElena Shvarts 223 Remembrance of Strange HospitalityJulie O’Callaghan 224 Federal CaseFrank O’Hara 224 AnimalsCharles Simic 225 ‘The city had fallen…’Robert Adamson 225 The stone curlewPolly Clark 226 My Life with HorsesSeán Ó Riordáin 227 SwitchJames Wright 227 A BlessingMichael Longley 228 The HorsesSeamus Heaney 229 The SkunkThom Gunn 229 Considering the SnailFleur Adcock 230 For a Five-Year-OldTed Hughes 231 Full Moon and Little FriedaFrieda Hughes 231 BirdsJohn Montague 232 The TroutSusan Wicks 233 Night ToadSheila Wingfield 233 A BirdJohn Kinsella 234 Emu HuntLavinia Greenlaw 234 Night ParrotTed Hughes 235 The Thought FoxMichael Longley 236 Swans MatingMichael Ondaatje 236 The Strange CaseSelima Hill 237 CowKatrina Porteous 238 Seven SilencesJo Shapcott 239 LiesVicki Feaver 240 Glow WormJorie Graham 241 SalmonRichard Murphy 242 Seals at High IslandChris Greenhalgh 243 Of Love, Death and the Sea-SquirtCaitríona O’Reilly 244 OctopusPablo Neruda 245 Fable of the mermaid and the drunksStephen Knight 245 The Mermaid TankEdwin Morgan 246 The Loch Ness Monster’s SongGwendolyn MacEwen 247 The Death of the Loch Ness MonsterSeamus Heaney 248 Oysters 7 In and out of lovePaul Durcan 250 My Belovèd Compares Herself to a Pint of StoutDeborah Randall 251 Finney’s BarTracy Ryan 252 BiteSelima Hill 252 Desire’s a DesireMarge Piercy 253 Raisin PumpernickelC.K. Williams 254 Love: BeginningsPauline Stainer 255 The HoneycombMichael Longley 255 The Linen IndustrySharon Olds 256 Last NightJános Pilinszky 257 Definition of Your AttractionMichael Ondaatje 257 The Cinnamon PeelerSharon Olds 259 True LoveW.H. Auden 259 LullabyJulia Copus 261 In Defence of AdulteryRita Ann Higgins 261 The Did-You-Come-Yets of the Western WorldC.K. Williams 263 The MistressSharon Olds 263 EcstasyD.H. Lawrence 264 New Year’s EveSalvatore Quasimodo 265 Only if Love Should Pierce YouJo Shapcott 265 MuseJo Shapcott 266 LifePhilippe Jaccottet 267 DistancesDavid Constantine 268 ‘As our bloods separate’Judith Wright 268 Woman to ManGjertrud Schnackenberg 269 Snow MeltingEsta Spalding 270 AugustKevin Hart 274 The RoomSelima Hill 274 Don’t Let’s Talk about Being in LoveKatie Donovan 275 Yearn OnCarolyn Kizer 276 BitchEleanor Brown 277 BitcherelKatherine Pierpoint 278 This Dead RelationshipStephen Dunn 280 Each from Different HeightsRosemary Tonks 280 Badly-Chosen LoverAnne Stevenson 281 After the End of ItJános Pilinszky 282 RelationshipLouise Glück 282 Hesitate to CallNina Cassian 282 Lady of MiraclesFleur Adcock 283 Advice to a Discarded LoverKit Wright 284 The All Purpose Country and Western Self Pity SongJames McAuley 286 BecauseP.K. Page 287 CrossConrad Aiken 288 The QuarrelKapka Kassabova 289 And they were both rightMicheal O’Siadhail 290 BetweenW.B. Yeats 290 When You Are OldKate Clanchy 291 SpellZbigniew Herbert 291 ConchW.H. Auden 292 ‘O tell me the truth about love’Meg Bateman 293 LightnessJames Fenton 294 In Paris with You 8 My peopleJaan Kaplinski 297 ‘The East West border…’Kona Macphee 297 My PeopleAnna Akhmatova 298 Our Own LandRichard Wilbur 299 A Summer MorningStuart Henson 299 The HeronJo Shapcott 300 A Letter to DennisTony Harrison 301 TurnsDavid Constantine 301 The DoorPeter Reading 302 from Going OnPeter Didsbury 303 In BritainAnne Rouse 304 England NilJoanne Limburg 304 Barton-in-the-BeansEsther Morgan 305 The ReasonPhilip Pacey 306 Charged Landscape: UffingtonEdward Thomas 307 The CombeNorman Nicholson 307 WindscaleJohn Heath-Stubbs 308 The Green Man’s Last Will and TestamentRobyn Bolam 309 KithG.F. Dutton 310 passageRoddy Lumsden 311 An Outlying StationPeter Reading 311 from EvagatoryKen Smith 315 After Mr Mayhew’s visitRoy Fisher 315 The NationKit Wright 316 Everyone Hates the EnglishAndrew Salkey 317 A song for EnglandTom Leonard 317 The VoyeurW.N. Herbert 318 The King and Queen of DumfriesshireR.S. Thomas 319 ReservoirsHarri Webb 319 Synopsis of the Great Welsh NovelBernard O’Donoghue 320 Westering HomeGillian Clarke 321 Overheard in Co. SligoPatrick Kavanagh 321 Inniskeen Road: July EveningNuala Ní Dhomhnaill 322 The Language IssueColette Bryce 323 BreakSeamus Heaney 323 The Toome RoadPaul Muldoon 324 The SightseersCharles Simic 324 Dream AvenueE.E. Cummings 325 ‘ “next to of course god america i” ’Langston Hughes 326 I, TooFred Voss 326 Making America StrongImtiaz Dharker 327 They’ll say, ‘She must be from another country’Jackie Kay 329 In my countryShirley Geok-lin Lim 329 Modern SecretsMoniza Alvi 330 ExileSophia de Mello Breyner 331 ExileJane Griffiths 331 EmigrantsGrace Nichols 332 EpilogueCarol Ann Duffy 332 In Your MindSophia de Mello Breyner 333 HomelandJo Shapcott 333 MotherlandAnna Akhmatova 334 ‘That city that I have loved’Anne Michaels 335 from What the Light TeachesCzeslaw Milosz 336 My Faithful Mother TongueAdam Zagajewski 337 BetrayalGlyn Maxwell 338 We Billion CheeredC.P. Cavafy 339 Waiting for the BarbariansW.H. Auden 340 Gare du MidiWeldon Kees 340 The Coming of the PlagueGeorge Szirtes 341 Death by MeteorJamie McKendrick 342 Ancient History 9 War and peaceKate Clanchy 345 War PoetryCarl Sandburg 345 GrassMiroslav Holub 346 The flyWilfred Owen 347 Anthem for Doomed YouthFreda Downie 347 For Wilfred OwenSiegfried Sassoon 348 Everyone SangIsaac Rosenberg 348 Returning, we hear the LarksEdward Thomas 349 As the team’s head-brassMichael Longley 350 CeasefirePaul Durcan 351 The Bloomsday Murders, 16 June 1997Gwendolyn MacEwen 352 from The T.E. Lawrence PoemsKeith Douglas 354 VergissmeinnichtMairi MacInnes 355 The Old Naval AirfieldGeoffrey Hill 356 September SongBertolt Brecht 356 There is no greater crime than leavingW.H. Auden 357 September 1, 1939Bruce Weigl 360 On the Anniversary of Her GraceCarolyn Forché 361 Selective ServiceJames Fenton 361 CambodiaJo Shapcott 362 Phrase BookRobert Graves 363 The Persian VersionTony Harrison 364 Initial IlluminationIngeborg Bachmann 365 Every DayCésar Vallejo 366 from Spain, take away this cup from meWislawa Szymborska 367 The End and the BeginningThomas Lux 368 The People of the Other Village 10 Disappearing actsFrances Horovitz 371 Rain – BirdoswaldMichael Longley 371 Björn Olinder’s PicturesThomas Blackburn 372 Now Light CongealsCharles Simic 372 PsalmDennis O’Driscoll 373 SomeonePhilip Larkin 374 AubadeJaan Kaplinski 375 ‘Death does not come from outside…’A.E. Housman 376 ‘Good creatures…’Carolyn Kizer 376 ThrallTony Harrison 377 Bookends (I)Ellen Bryant Voigt 378 For My MotherDylan Thomas 379 Do Not Go Gentle into That Good NightAnon 379 ‘Do not stand at my grave and weep’W.H. Auden 380 Funeral BluesMichael Hartnett 381 Death of an IrishwomanMichael Longley 381 Water-burnMiroslav Holub 382 The deadGösta Ågren 382 Death’s SecretG.F. Dutton 383 Death in OctoberDavid Constantine 383 ‘Pity the drunks’David Scott 384 Scattering AshesThom Gunn 384 The Gas-pokerDavid Constantine 386 Boy finds tramp deadJohn F. Deane 387 On a Dark NightPamela Gillilan 388 Four YearsCaroline Smith 388 MetamorphosisLiz Lochhead 389 Sorting ThroughAlden Nowlan 389 This Is What I Wanted to Sign Off WithTess Gallagher 390 WakeP.K. Page 390 About DeathHoward Nemerov 391 The VacuumJeanne Willis 392 Inside Our DreamsThom Gunn 392 The ReassuranceTheodore Roethke 392 SheBrendan Kennelly 393 A Glimpse of StarlingsPablo Neruda 394 Dead WomanTess Gallagher 395 YesAndrew Motion 395 CloseSophia de Mello Breyner 396 InscriptionE.E. Cummings 397 ‘Buffalo Bill ’s’Billy Collins 397 The DeadTadeusz Rozewicz 398 ProofsAnne Carson 398 On Walking BackwardsStephen Dobyns 399 Cemetery NightsStephen Dunn 400 Father, Mother, Robert Henley who hanged himself in the ninth grade, et alVladimír Holan 400 ResurrectionCharles Causley 401 Eden RockJo Shapcott 402 When I DiedDana Gioia 402 All Souls’Philippe Jaccottet 403 from LessonsAugust Kleinzahler 405 Where Souls GoBrad Leithauser 405 A MosquitoLouise Glück 406 The Wild IrisDerek Mahon 407 AntarcticaPaul Muldoon 407 Why Brownlee LeftMatthew Sweeney 408 Sleep with a SuitcaseDerek Mahon 409 As It Should BeAmanda Dalton 409 How to DisappearVona Groarke 410 FolderolWeldon Kees 411 RobinsonSophia de Mello Breyner 411 Night and the HouseMiroslav Holub 412 Distant Howling 11 Me, the Earth, the UniverseJános Pilinszky 414 Homage to Isaac NewtonRobin Robertson 414 New GravityAdam Zagajewski 414 MomentYannis Ritsos 415 MorningMoniza Alvi 415 The Other RoomMiroslav Holub 416 Brief reflection on accuracySimon Armitage 417 Zoom!Seamus Heaney 418 from LighteningsEllen Hinsey 418 On the Uncountable Nature of ThingsAmy Clampitt 420 The Sun Underfoot among the SundewsJames Harpur 421 ‘I stretch my arms’James Merrill 421 A Downward LookCharles Causley 422 I Am the SongVasko Popa 422 from GamesDerek Walcott 423 EarthSheila Wingfield 423 WakingIvan V. Lalic 424 Places We LoveR.S. Thomas 424 MoorlandRobin Robertson 425 Three Ways of Looking at GodKerry Hardie 426 The AvatarAlden Nowlan 426 SacramentT.S. Eliot 427 Journey of the MagiWallace Stevens 428 The Snow ManPatrick Kavanagh 428 SanctityR.S. Thomas 429 Via NegativaCharles Simic 429 To the One UpstairsTomas Tranströmer 430 TracksElizabeth Jennings 431 DelayNorman MacCaig 431 Summer farmIain Crichton Smith 432 Tinily a star goes downCarol Rumens 432 Star WhisperGwyneth Lewis 433 from Zero GravityJane Cooper 434 RentElinor Wylie 435 Full MoonKapka Kassabova 435 Preparation for the big emptinessElizabeth Bishop 436 The ShampooAlice Oswald 437 MountainsKit Wright 437 The Other Side of the Mountain 12 The art of poetryPhilippe Jaccottet 440 from Songs from BelowArchibald MacLeish 441 Ars PoeticaW.S. Graham 442 The Beast in the SpaceAlden Nowlan 443 An Exchange of GiftsHelen Ivory 443 Note to the reader: this is not a poemRobert Hass 444 Meditation at LagunitasJaan Kaplinski 445 ‘Once I got a postcard…’Tomas Tranströmer 445 From March 1979Chase Twichell 446 Animal LanguagesVasko Popa 446 The Story of a StoryWallace Stevens 447 Not Ideas about the Thing but the Thing ItselfEamon Grennan 448 DetailRita Dove 448 ÖMark Strand 449 Eating PoetryHoward Nemerov 450 The Painter Dreaming in the Scholar’s HouseRobert Lowell 453 EpilogueGalway Kinnell 454 OatmealPatrick Kavanagh 455 Consider the Grass GrowingJoan Brossa 455 NoteSeamus Heaney 456 PostscriptRaymond Carver 456 Late Fragment Neil Astley 458 The Sound of Poetry464 Glossary471 Further reading473 Acknowledgements480 Index of writers486 Index of titles and first lines

‘These poems distil the human heart as nothing else… Staying Alive celebrates the point of poetry. It’s invigorating and makes me proud of being human’ – Jane Campion‘Truly startling and powerful poems’ – Mia Farrow‘Staying Alive is a blessing of a book. The title says it all. I have long waited for just this kind of setting down of poems - and the way they work together is wonderful - all come together to talk at the same table. Has there ever been such a passionate anthology? These are poems that hunt you down with the solace of their recognition' – Anne Michaels‘Staying Alive is a book which leaves those who have read or heard a poem from it feeling less alone and more alive’ – John Berger‘Staying Alive is a magnificent anthology. The last time I was so excited, engaged and enthralled by a collection of poems was when I first encountered The Rattle Bag. I can’t think of any other anthology that casts its net so widely, or one that has introduced me to so many vivid and memorable poems’ – Philip Pullman‘Usually if you say a book is “inspirational” that means it’s New Agey and soft at the center. This astonishingly rich anthology, by contrast, shows that what is edgy, authentic and provocative can also awaken the spirit and make its readers quick with consciousness. In these pages I discovered many new writers, and I’ve decided I’m now in love with our troublesome epoch if it can produce poems of such genius’ – Edmund White‘A vibrant, brilliantly diverse anthology of poems to delight the mind, heart and soul. A book for people who know they love poetry, and for people who think they don’t’ – Helen Dunmore'Staying Alive is a wonderful testament to Neil Astley's liftetime in poetry, and to the range and courage of his taste. It's also, of course, a testament to poetry itself: to its powers to engross and move us, to its ability to challenge and brace us, and to its exultation. Everyone who cares about poetry should own this book.' - Andrew Motion‘When you choose your book for Desert Island Discs, this should be it. Staying Alive proves that poetry is the most sustaining and life-affirming of literary forms. A triumph’ – Helena Kennedy

Neil Astley is editor of Bloodaxe Books, which he founded in 1978. His books include novels, poetry collections and anthologies, most notably those in Bloodaxe's Staying Alive anthology series: Staying Alive (2002), Being Alive (2004), Being Human (2011), and Staying Human (2020), a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation; and three collaborations with Pamela Robertson-Pearce, Soul Food: nourishing poems for starved minds (2008), and the DVD-books In Person: 30 Poets (2008) and In Person: World Poets (2017). He has published two novels, The End of My Tether (2002), which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award, and The Sheep Who Changed the World (2005). He received an Eric Gregory Award for his poetry, was given a D.Litt from Newcastle University for his work with Bloodaxe Books, and in 2018 was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He also guest-edited a transatlantic all-poetry issue of the American literary journal Ploughshares, the first such issue in its 43-year history. He lives in the Tarset Valley of Northumberland, England.

• Various 18 Poets on poetryNeil Astley 19 IntroductionMary Oliver 28 Wild Geese 1 Body and soulDenise Levertov 31 LivingAndrew Greig 31 Orkney / This LifeAlistair Elliot 32 Northern MorningRaymond Carver 33 HappinessJames Merrill 33 My Father’s Irish SettersVernon Scannell 35 LegsLucille Clifton 36 homage to my hipsGwen Harwood 36 Naked VisionThom Gunn 37 The HugTess Gallagher 38 The HugElizabeth Bishop 39 Chemin de FerAlden Nowlan 40 He Sits Down on the Floor of a School for the RetardedLes Murray 41 An Absolutely Ordinary RainbowMichael Longley 43 A PrayerCarol Ann Duffy 43 PrayerCzesław Miłosz 44 EncounterRainer Maria Rilke 44 from The Tenth Duino ElegyDenise Levertov 45 Variation on a Theme by RilkeGjertrud Schnackenberg 46 from A Gilded Lapse of TimeKevin Hart 47 Dark AngelNina Cassian 48 TemptationSylvia Plath 48 Poppies in OctoberOsip Mandelstam 49 ‘Eyesight of Wasps’David Constantine 49 The WaspsCharles Simic 50 The Old WorldRobert Bly 50 Watering the HorseChase Twichell 51 Saint AnimalCarol Rumens 51 JarrowStephen Dobyns 52 Where We Are 2 Roads and journeysRobert Frost 55 The Road Not TakenJames K. Baxter 55 The BayElizabeth Garrett 56 Tyranny of ChoiceStevie Smith 57 Not Waving but DrowningSimon Armitage 57 PoemCarl Sandburg 58 ChooseVladimír Holan 58 Meeting in a LiftE.E. Cummings 58 ‘i thank You God for most this amazing’Dennis O’Driscoll 59 YouBrendan Kennelly 60 BeginLouis MacNeice 60 EntirelyAdrienne Rich 61 IntegrityGalway Kinnell 63 The BearDelmore Schwartz 66 The Heavy Bear Who Goes with MeJohn Berryman 67 from Dream SongsTracey Herd 67 from Some mangled dream songs for HenryFreda Downie 68 WindowMiroslav Holub 69 The doorKapka Kassabova 70 The DoorRobert Frost 71 DirectiveGillian Allnutt 72 The Road HomeRobert Frost 73 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningLouis MacNeice 74 SnowPaul Muldoon 74 HistoryMaura Dooley 75 HistoryVladimír Holan 75 SnowLawrence Sail 76 The CablecarGalway Kinnell 77 That Silent EveningMary Oliver 78 The JourneyHelen Dunmore 79 When You’ve GotMuriel Rukeyser 80 YesStephen Dunn 81 HappinessMichael Donaghy 81 MachinesTomas Tranströmer 82 AloneMenna Elfyn 83 CouplingsWilliam Stafford 84 Traveling through the DarkJohn Burnside 84 PenitenceW.N. Herbert 86 Slow Animals CrossingElizabeth Bishop 87 The MooseThomas Lux 92 Wife Hits Moose 3 Dead or aliveJaan Kaplinski 95 ‘To eat a pie and to have it…’Louise Glück 95 TrilliumElizabeth Daryush 96 ‘I saw the daughter of the sun…’Frieda Hughes 97 StonepickerMarin Sorescu 97 The ArrowChristopher Logue 98 Be Not Too HardCharles Simic 99 Modern SorceryVona Groarke 99 Tonight of YesterdayHayden Carruth 100 SonnetJames Wright 100 Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s FarmWilliam Empson 101 Missing DatesWeldon Kees 101 VillanelleGjertrud Schnackenberg 102 SignsGalway Kinnell 103 from When One Has Lived a Long Time AloneBrendan Kennelly 103 My Dark FathersKit Wright 104 Hoping It Might Be SoCharles Wright 105 Clear NightRobert Bly 106 DefeatedTheodore Roethke 106 The WakingKapka Kassabova 107 MiragesEibhlín Nic Eochaidh 108 How to kill a living thingAnne Michaels 109 from SublimationChase Twichell 110 HorseEiléan Ní Chuilleanáin 111 SwineherdKathleen Jamie 111 The way we liveConnie Bensley 112 ApologiaRosemary Tonks 113 Addiction to an Old MattressFleur Adcock 113 ThingsElma Mitchell 114 Thoughts After RuskinElizabeth Bartlett 115 Themes for WomenMaura Dooley 116 What Every Woman Should CarryRuth Fainlight 116 HandbagJenny Joseph 117 WarningTheodore Roethke 117 DolorElizabeth Bishop 118 One ArtLouise Glück 119 LamiumMay Sarton 119 A Glass of WaterStephen Dunn 120 SadnessStephen Dunn 121 SweetnessAlden Nowlan 122 The ExecutionJames Wright 123 A Note Left in Jimmy Leonard’s ShackBertolt Brecht 124 Epistle on SuicideStevie Smith 124 Harold’s LeapAnne Sexton 125 Her KindTracey Herd 126 Anne Sexton’s Last Letter to GodRobert Frost 128 My November GuestEdward Thomas 128 She DotesR.S. Thomas 129 The CryVachel Lindsay 130 The Leaden-EyedEzra Pound 130 And the Days Are Not Full EnoughDouglas Dunn 130 A Removal from Terry Street 4 BittersweetMatthew Sweeney 133 Tube Ride to Martha’sPeter Reading 133 from Ukulele MusicKen Smith 135 Against the grainWislawa Szymborska 135 The One Twenty PubIzet Sarajlic 137 Luck in SarajevoMichael Longley 137 All of These PeopleMuriel Rukeyser 138 Waking This MorningDouglas Dunn 138 I Am a CameramanPhilip Gross 140 from The Wasting GameLeontia Flynn 143 BrinkwomanshipKen Smith 144 HereU.A. Fanthorpe 144 The UnprofessionalsStewart Conn 145 Visiting HourCarole Satyamurti 145 from Changing the SubjectNick Drake 150 The CureCharles Simic 150 Past-Lives TherapyAdrienne Rich 151 Diving into the WreckRichard Wilbur 153 April 5, 1974Michael Longley 154 At Poll SalachEdward Thomas 154 ThawMichael Longley 154 ThawFleur Adcock 155 KissingLeland Bardwell 155 How my true love and I lay without touchingBasil Bunting 156 ‘You idiot!…’Randall Jarrell 157 90 NorthE.J. Scovell 158 Listening to Collared DovesDavid Constantine 159 Watching for DolphinsJo Shapcott 160 GoatPeter Didsbury 161 The DrainageHelen Dunmore 162 Three Ways of Recovering a BodyTed Hughes 163 Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three DaysSylvia Plath 164 MushroomsDerek Mahon 166 A Disused Shed in Co. WexfordJohn Burnside 167 Unwittingly 5 Growing upKen Smith 171 Being the third song of UriasSujata Bhatt 172 White AsparagusAlden Nowlan 173 It’s Good To Be HereKathleen Jamie 174 UltrasoundHelen Dunmore 178 Safe periodKona Macphee 178 IVFJane Duran 180 MiscarriageMaura Dooley 181 FreightSharon Olds 181 First BirthSharon Olds 182 Her First WeekAnne Stevenson 183 The Spirit is too Blunt an InstrumentGavin Ewart 184 Sonnet: How Life Too Is SentimentalAnne Stevenson 184 Poem for a DaughterEllen Bryant Voigt 185 DaughterAdrian Mitchell 186 Beattie Is ThreeW.D. Snodgrass 186 from Heart’s NeedleGjertrud Schnackenberg 191 Supernatural LoveBrendan Kennelly 193 Poem from a Three Year OldRoger McGough 194 CindersKenneth Rexroth 195 A Sword in a Cloud of LightJános Pilinszky 197 On the Back of a PhotographFleur Adcock 197 The VideoP.K. Page 197 Young GirlsAdrian Mitchell 198 A Puppy Called PubertyAdrian Mitchell 199 A Dog Called ElderlyPaul Muldoon 199 CubaMichael Donaghy 200 My FluCharles Simic 201 ‘We were so poor…’Robert Hayden 201 Those Winter SundaysJulia Copus 202 The Back Seat of My Mother’s CarLouise Glück 203 Mirror ImageSylvia Plath 203 MirrorAnne Carson 204 Father’s Old Blue CardiganPhilip Larkin 205 This Be the VerseCaitríona O’Reilly 205 PossessionRandall Jarrell 206 A Night with LionsJoseph Brodsky 207 from A Part of SpeechEdward Thomas 209 Old ManRandall Jarrell 211 Thinking of the Lost WorldPaul Muldoon 213 QuoofHart Crane 214 ForgetfulnessBilly Collins 214 ForgetfulnessW.S. Merwin 215 Unknown ForbearDavid Scott 216 Groundsmen 6 Man and beastLes Murray 218 PigsDennis O’Driscoll 218 Experimental AnimalsAlden Nowlan 219 WeaknessStephen Dobyns 220 Spiritual ChickensJames Dickey 221 The Heaven of AnimalsNina Cassian 222 SacrilegeElena Shvarts 223 Remembrance of Strange HospitalityJulie O’Callaghan 224 Federal CaseFrank O’Hara 224 AnimalsCharles Simic 225 ‘The city had fallen…’Robert Adamson 225 The stone curlewPolly Clark 226 My Life with HorsesSeán Ó Riordáin 227 SwitchJames Wright 227 A BlessingMichael Longley 228 The HorsesSeamus Heaney 229 The SkunkThom Gunn 229 Considering the SnailFleur Adcock 230 For a Five-Year-OldTed Hughes 231 Full Moon and Little FriedaFrieda Hughes 231 BirdsJohn Montague 232 The TroutSusan Wicks 233 Night ToadSheila Wingfield 233 A BirdJohn Kinsella 234 Emu HuntLavinia Greenlaw 234 Night ParrotTed Hughes 235 The Thought FoxMichael Longley 236 Swans MatingMichael Ondaatje 236 The Strange CaseSelima Hill 237 CowKatrina Porteous 238 Seven SilencesJo Shapcott 239 LiesVicki Feaver 240 Glow WormJorie Graham 241 SalmonRichard Murphy 242 Seals at High IslandChris Greenhalgh 243 Of Love, Death and the Sea-SquirtCaitríona O’Reilly 244 OctopusPablo Neruda 245 Fable of the mermaid and the drunksStephen Knight 245 The Mermaid TankEdwin Morgan 246 The Loch Ness Monster’s SongGwendolyn MacEwen 247 The Death of the Loch Ness MonsterSeamus Heaney 248 Oysters 7 In and out of lovePaul Durcan 250 My Belovèd Compares Herself to a Pint of StoutDeborah Randall 251 Finney’s BarTracy Ryan 252 BiteSelima Hill 252 Desire’s a DesireMarge Piercy 253 Raisin PumpernickelC.K. Williams 254 Love: BeginningsPauline Stainer 255 The HoneycombMichael Longley 255 The Linen IndustrySharon Olds 256 Last NightJános Pilinszky 257 Definition of Your AttractionMichael Ondaatje 257 The Cinnamon PeelerSharon Olds 259 True LoveW.H. Auden 259 LullabyJulia Copus 261 In Defence of AdulteryRita Ann Higgins 261 The Did-You-Come-Yets of the Western WorldC.K. Williams 263 The MistressSharon Olds 263 EcstasyD.H. Lawrence 264 New Year’s EveSalvatore Quasimodo 265 Only if Love Should Pierce YouJo Shapcott 265 MuseJo Shapcott 266 LifePhilippe Jaccottet 267 DistancesDavid Constantine 268 ‘As our bloods separate’Judith Wright 268 Woman to ManGjertrud Schnackenberg 269 Snow MeltingEsta Spalding 270 AugustKevin Hart 274 The RoomSelima Hill 274 Don’t Let’s Talk about Being in LoveKatie Donovan 275 Yearn OnCarolyn Kizer 276 BitchEleanor Brown 277 BitcherelKatherine Pierpoint 278 This Dead RelationshipStephen Dunn 280 Each from Different HeightsRosemary Tonks 280 Badly-Chosen LoverAnne Stevenson 281 After the End of ItJános Pilinszky 282 RelationshipLouise Glück 282 Hesitate to CallNina Cassian 282 Lady of MiraclesFleur Adcock 283 Advice to a Discarded LoverKit Wright 284 The All Purpose Country and Western Self Pity SongJames McAuley 286 BecauseP.K. Page 287 CrossConrad Aiken 288 The QuarrelKapka Kassabova 289 And they were both rightMicheal O’Siadhail 290 BetweenW.B. Yeats 290 When You Are OldKate Clanchy 291 SpellZbigniew Herbert 291 ConchW.H. Auden 292 ‘O tell me the truth about love’Meg Bateman 293 LightnessJames Fenton 294 In Paris with You 8 My peopleJaan Kaplinski 297 ‘The East West border…’Kona Macphee 297 My PeopleAnna Akhmatova 298 Our Own LandRichard Wilbur 299 A Summer MorningStuart Henson 299 The HeronJo Shapcott 300 A Letter to DennisTony Harrison 301 TurnsDavid Constantine 301 The DoorPeter Reading 302 from Going OnPeter Didsbury 303 In BritainAnne Rouse 304 England NilJoanne Limburg 304 Barton-in-the-BeansEsther Morgan 305 The ReasonPhilip Pacey 306 Charged Landscape: UffingtonEdward Thomas 307 The CombeNorman Nicholson 307 WindscaleJohn Heath-Stubbs 308 The Green Man’s Last Will and TestamentRobyn Bolam 309 KithG.F. Dutton 310 passageRoddy Lumsden 311 An Outlying StationPeter Reading 311 from EvagatoryKen Smith 315 After Mr Mayhew’s visitRoy Fisher 315 The NationKit Wright 316 Everyone Hates the EnglishAndrew Salkey 317 A song for EnglandTom Leonard 317 The VoyeurW.N. Herbert 318 The King and Queen of DumfriesshireR.S. Thomas 319 ReservoirsHarri Webb 319 Synopsis of the Great Welsh NovelBernard O’Donoghue 320 Westering HomeGillian Clarke 321 Overheard in Co. SligoPatrick Kavanagh 321 Inniskeen Road: July EveningNuala Ní Dhomhnaill 322 The Language IssueColette Bryce 323 BreakSeamus Heaney 323 The Toome RoadPaul Muldoon 324 The SightseersCharles Simic 324 Dream AvenueE.E. Cummings 325 ‘ “next to of course god america i” ’Langston Hughes 326 I, TooFred Voss 326 Making America StrongImtiaz Dharker 327 They’ll say, ‘She must be from another country’Jackie Kay 329 In my countryShirley Geok-lin Lim 329 Modern SecretsMoniza Alvi 330 ExileSophia de Mello Breyner 331 ExileJane Griffiths 331 EmigrantsGrace Nichols 332 EpilogueCarol Ann Duffy 332 In Your MindSophia de Mello Breyner 333 HomelandJo Shapcott 333 MotherlandAnna Akhmatova 334 ‘That city that I have loved’Anne Michaels 335 from What the Light TeachesCzeslaw Milosz 336 My Faithful Mother TongueAdam Zagajewski 337 BetrayalGlyn Maxwell 338 We Billion CheeredC.P. Cavafy 339 Waiting for the BarbariansW.H. Auden 340 Gare du MidiWeldon Kees 340 The Coming of the PlagueGeorge Szirtes 341 Death by MeteorJamie McKendrick 342 Ancient History 9 War and peaceKate Clanchy 345 War PoetryCarl Sandburg 345 GrassMiroslav Holub 346 The flyWilfred Owen 347 Anthem for Doomed YouthFreda Downie 347 For Wilfred OwenSiegfried Sassoon 348 Everyone SangIsaac Rosenberg 348 Returning, we hear the LarksEdward Thomas 349 As the team’s head-brassMichael Longley 350 CeasefirePaul Durcan 351 The Bloomsday Murders, 16 June 1997Gwendolyn MacEwen 352 from The T.E. Lawrence PoemsKeith Douglas 354 VergissmeinnichtMairi MacInnes 355 The Old Naval AirfieldGeoffrey Hill 356 September SongBertolt Brecht 356 There is no greater crime than leavingW.H. Auden 357 September 1, 1939Bruce Weigl 360 On the Anniversary of Her GraceCarolyn Forché 361 Selective ServiceJames Fenton 361 CambodiaJo Shapcott 362 Phrase BookRobert Graves 363 The Persian VersionTony Harrison 364 Initial IlluminationIngeborg Bachmann 365 Every DayCésar Vallejo 366 from Spain, take away this cup from meWislawa Szymborska 367 The End and the BeginningThomas Lux 368 The People of the Other Village 10 Disappearing actsFrances Horovitz 371 Rain – BirdoswaldMichael Longley 371 Björn Olinder’s PicturesThomas Blackburn 372 Now Light CongealsCharles Simic 372 PsalmDennis O’Driscoll 373 SomeonePhilip Larkin 374 AubadeJaan Kaplinski 375 ‘Death does not come from outside…’A.E. Housman 376 ‘Good creatures…’Carolyn Kizer 376 ThrallTony Harrison 377 Bookends (I)Ellen Bryant Voigt 378 For My MotherDylan Thomas 379 Do Not Go Gentle into That Good NightAnon 379 ‘Do not stand at my grave and weep’W.H. Auden 380 Funeral BluesMichael Hartnett 381 Death of an IrishwomanMichael Longley 381 Water-burnMiroslav Holub 382 The deadGösta Ågren 382 Death’s SecretG.F. Dutton 383 Death in OctoberDavid Constantine 383 ‘Pity the drunks’David Scott 384 Scattering AshesThom Gunn 384 The Gas-pokerDavid Constantine 386 Boy finds tramp deadJohn F. Deane 387 On a Dark NightPamela Gillilan 388 Four YearsCaroline Smith 388 MetamorphosisLiz Lochhead 389 Sorting ThroughAlden Nowlan 389 This Is What I Wanted to Sign Off WithTess Gallagher 390 WakeP.K. Page 390 About DeathHoward Nemerov 391 The VacuumJeanne Willis 392 Inside Our DreamsThom Gunn 392 The ReassuranceTheodore Roethke 392 SheBrendan Kennelly 393 A Glimpse of StarlingsPablo Neruda 394 Dead WomanTess Gallagher 395 YesAndrew Motion 395 CloseSophia de Mello Breyner 396 InscriptionE.E. Cummings 397 ‘Buffalo Bill ’s’Billy Collins 397 The DeadTadeusz Rozewicz 398 ProofsAnne Carson 398 On Walking BackwardsStephen Dobyns 399 Cemetery NightsStephen Dunn 400 Father, Mother, Robert Henley who hanged himself in the ninth grade, et alVladimír Holan 400 ResurrectionCharles Causley 401 Eden RockJo Shapcott 402 When I DiedDana Gioia 402 All Souls’Philippe Jaccottet 403 from LessonsAugust Kleinzahler 405 Where Souls GoBrad Leithauser 405 A MosquitoLouise Glück 406 The Wild IrisDerek Mahon 407 AntarcticaPaul Muldoon 407 Why Brownlee LeftMatthew Sweeney 408 Sleep with a SuitcaseDerek Mahon 409 As It Should BeAmanda Dalton 409 How to DisappearVona Groarke 410 FolderolWeldon Kees 411 RobinsonSophia de Mello Breyner 411 Night and the HouseMiroslav Holub 412 Distant Howling 11 Me, the Earth, the UniverseJános Pilinszky 414 Homage to Isaac NewtonRobin Robertson 414 New GravityAdam Zagajewski 414 MomentYannis Ritsos 415 MorningMoniza Alvi 415 The Other RoomMiroslav Holub 416 Brief reflection on accuracySimon Armitage 417 Zoom!Seamus Heaney 418 from LighteningsEllen Hinsey 418 On the Uncountable Nature of ThingsAmy Clampitt 420 The Sun Underfoot among the SundewsJames Harpur 421 ‘I stretch my arms’James Merrill 421 A Downward LookCharles Causley 422 I Am the SongVasko Popa 422 from GamesDerek Walcott 423 EarthSheila Wingfield 423 WakingIvan V. Lalic 424 Places We LoveR.S. Thomas 424 MoorlandRobin Robertson 425 Three Ways of Looking at GodKerry Hardie 426 The AvatarAlden Nowlan 426 SacramentT.S. Eliot 427 Journey of the MagiWallace Stevens 428 The Snow ManPatrick Kavanagh 428 SanctityR.S. Thomas 429 Via NegativaCharles Simic 429 To the One UpstairsTomas Tranströmer 430 TracksElizabeth Jennings 431 DelayNorman MacCaig 431 Summer farmIain Crichton Smith 432 Tinily a star goes downCarol Rumens 432 Star WhisperGwyneth Lewis 433 from Zero GravityJane Cooper 434 RentElinor Wylie 435 Full MoonKapka Kassabova 435 Preparation for the big emptinessElizabeth Bishop 436 The ShampooAlice Oswald 437 MountainsKit Wright 437 The Other Side of the Mountain 12 The art of poetryPhilippe Jaccottet 440 from Songs from BelowArchibald MacLeish 441 Ars PoeticaW.S. Graham 442 The Beast in the SpaceAlden Nowlan 443 An Exchange of GiftsHelen Ivory 443 Note to the reader: this is not a poemRobert Hass 444 Meditation at LagunitasJaan Kaplinski 445 ‘Once I got a postcard…’Tomas Tranströmer 445 From March 1979Chase Twichell 446 Animal LanguagesVasko Popa 446 The Story of a StoryWallace Stevens 447 Not Ideas about the Thing but the Thing ItselfEamon Grennan 448 DetailRita Dove 448 ÖMark Strand 449 Eating PoetryHoward Nemerov 450 The Painter Dreaming in the Scholar’s HouseRobert Lowell 453 EpilogueGalway Kinnell 454 OatmealPatrick Kavanagh 455 Consider the Grass GrowingJoan Brossa 455 NoteSeamus Heaney 456 PostscriptRaymond Carver 456 Late Fragment Neil Astley 458 The Sound of Poetry464 Glossary471 Further reading473 Acknowledgements480 Index of writers486 Index of titles and first lines

‘These poems distil the human heart as nothing else… Staying Alive celebrates the point of poetry. It’s invigorating and makes me proud of being human’ – Jane Campion‘Truly startling and powerful poems’ – Mia Farrow‘Staying Alive is a blessing of a book. The title says it all. I have long waited for just this kind of setting down of poems - and the way they work together is wonderful - all come together to talk at the same table. Has there ever been such a passionate anthology? These are poems that hunt you down with the solace of their recognition' – Anne Michaels‘Staying Alive is a book which leaves those who have read or heard a poem from it feeling less alone and more alive’ – John Berger‘Staying Alive is a magnificent anthology. The last time I was so excited, engaged and enthralled by a collection of poems was when I first encountered The Rattle Bag. I can’t think of any other anthology that casts its net so widely, or one that has introduced me to so many vivid and memorable poems’ – Philip Pullman‘Usually if you say a book is “inspirational” that means it’s New Agey and soft at the center. This astonishingly rich anthology, by contrast, shows that what is edgy, authentic and provocative can also awaken the spirit and make its readers quick with consciousness. In these pages I discovered many new writers, and I’ve decided I’m now in love with our troublesome epoch if it can produce poems of such genius’ – Edmund White‘A vibrant, brilliantly diverse anthology of poems to delight the mind, heart and soul. A book for people who know they love poetry, and for people who think they don’t’ – Helen Dunmore'Staying Alive is a wonderful testament to Neil Astley's liftetime in poetry, and to the range and courage of his taste. It's also, of course, a testament to poetry itself: to its powers to engross and move us, to its ability to challenge and brace us, and to its exultation. Everyone who cares about poetry should own this book.' - Andrew Motion‘When you choose your book for Desert Island Discs, this should be it. Staying Alive proves that poetry is the most sustaining and life-affirming of literary forms. A triumph’ – Helena Kennedy

Neil Astley is editor of Bloodaxe Books, which he founded in 1978. His books include novels, poetry collections and anthologies, most notably those in Bloodaxe's Staying Alive anthology series: Staying Alive (2002), Being Alive (2004), Being Human (2011), and Staying Human (2020), a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation; and three collaborations with Pamela Robertson-Pearce, Soul Food: nourishing poems for starved minds (2008), and the DVD-books In Person: 30 Poets (2008) and In Person: World Poets (2017). He has published two novels, The End of My Tether (2002), which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award, and The Sheep Who Changed the World (2005). He received an Eric Gregory Award for his poetry, was given a D.Litt from Newcastle University for his work with Bloodaxe Books, and in 2018 was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He also guest-edited a transatlantic all-poetry issue of the American literary journal Ploughshares, the first such issue in its 43-year history. He lives in the Tarset Valley of Northumberland, England.

• Various 18 Poets on poetryNeil Astley 19 IntroductionMary Oliver 28 Wild Geese 1 Body and soulDenise Levertov 31 LivingAndrew Greig 31 Orkney / This LifeAlistair Elliot 32 Northern MorningRaymond Carver 33 HappinessJames Merrill 33 My Father’s Irish SettersVernon Scannell 35 LegsLucille Clifton 36 homage to my hipsGwen Harwood 36 Naked VisionThom Gunn 37 The HugTess Gallagher 38 The HugElizabeth Bishop 39 Chemin de FerAlden Nowlan 40 He Sits Down on the Floor of a School for the RetardedLes Murray 41 An Absolutely Ordinary RainbowMichael Longley 43 A PrayerCarol Ann Duffy 43 PrayerCzesław Miłosz 44 EncounterRainer Maria Rilke 44 from The Tenth Duino ElegyDenise Levertov 45 Variation on a Theme by RilkeGjertrud Schnackenberg 46 from A Gilded Lapse of TimeKevin Hart 47 Dark AngelNina Cassian 48 TemptationSylvia Plath 48 Poppies in OctoberOsip Mandelstam 49 ‘Eyesight of Wasps’David Constantine 49 The WaspsCharles Simic 50 The Old WorldRobert Bly 50 Watering the HorseChase Twichell 51 Saint AnimalCarol Rumens 51 JarrowStephen Dobyns 52 Where We Are 2 Roads and journeysRobert Frost 55 The Road Not TakenJames K. Baxter 55 The BayElizabeth Garrett 56 Tyranny of ChoiceStevie Smith 57 Not Waving but DrowningSimon Armitage 57 PoemCarl Sandburg 58 ChooseVladimír Holan 58 Meeting in a LiftE.E. Cummings 58 ‘i thank You God for most this amazing’Dennis O’Driscoll 59 YouBrendan Kennelly 60 BeginLouis MacNeice 60 EntirelyAdrienne Rich 61 IntegrityGalway Kinnell 63 The BearDelmore Schwartz 66 The Heavy Bear Who Goes with MeJohn Berryman 67 from Dream SongsTracey Herd 67 from Some mangled dream songs for HenryFreda Downie 68 WindowMiroslav Holub 69 The doorKapka Kassabova 70 The DoorRobert Frost 71 DirectiveGillian Allnutt 72 The Road HomeRobert Frost 73 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningLouis MacNeice 74 SnowPaul Muldoon 74 HistoryMaura Dooley 75 HistoryVladimír Holan 75 SnowLawrence Sail 76 The CablecarGalway Kinnell 77 That Silent EveningMary Oliver 78 The JourneyHelen Dunmore 79 When You’ve GotMuriel Rukeyser 80 YesStephen Dunn 81 HappinessMichael Donaghy 81 MachinesTomas Tranströmer 82 AloneMenna Elfyn 83 CouplingsWilliam Stafford 84 Traveling through the DarkJohn Burnside 84 PenitenceW.N. Herbert 86 Slow Animals CrossingElizabeth Bishop 87 The MooseThomas Lux 92 Wife Hits Moose 3 Dead or aliveJaan Kaplinski 95 ‘To eat a pie and to have it…’Louise Glück 95 TrilliumElizabeth Daryush 96 ‘I saw the daughter of the sun…’Frieda Hughes 97 StonepickerMarin Sorescu 97 The ArrowChristopher Logue 98 Be Not Too HardCharles Simic 99 Modern SorceryVona Groarke 99 Tonight of YesterdayHayden Carruth 100 SonnetJames Wright 100 Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s FarmWilliam Empson 101 Missing DatesWeldon Kees 101 VillanelleGjertrud Schnackenberg 102 SignsGalway Kinnell 103 from When One Has Lived a Long Time AloneBrendan Kennelly 103 My Dark FathersKit Wright 104 Hoping It Might Be SoCharles Wright 105 Clear NightRobert Bly 106 DefeatedTheodore Roethke 106 The WakingKapka Kassabova 107 MiragesEibhlín Nic Eochaidh 108 How to kill a living thingAnne Michaels 109 from SublimationChase Twichell 110 HorseEiléan Ní Chuilleanáin 111 SwineherdKathleen Jamie 111 The way we liveConnie Bensley 112 ApologiaRosemary Tonks 113 Addiction to an Old MattressFleur Adcock 113 ThingsElma Mitchell 114 Thoughts After RuskinElizabeth Bartlett 115 Themes for WomenMaura Dooley 116 What Every Woman Should CarryRuth Fainlight 116 HandbagJenny Joseph 117 WarningTheodore Roethke 117 DolorElizabeth Bishop 118 One ArtLouise Glück 119 LamiumMay Sarton 119 A Glass of WaterStephen Dunn 120 SadnessStephen Dunn 121 SweetnessAlden Nowlan 122 The ExecutionJames Wright 123 A Note Left in Jimmy Leonard’s ShackBertolt Brecht 124 Epistle on SuicideStevie Smith 124 Harold’s LeapAnne Sexton 125 Her KindTracey Herd 126 Anne Sexton’s Last Letter to GodRobert Frost 128 My November GuestEdward Thomas 128 She DotesR.S. Thomas 129 The CryVachel Lindsay 130 The Leaden-EyedEzra Pound 130 And the Days Are Not Full EnoughDouglas Dunn 130 A Removal from Terry Street 4 BittersweetMatthew Sweeney 133 Tube Ride to Martha’sPeter Reading 133 from Ukulele MusicKen Smith 135 Against the grainWislawa Szymborska 135 The One Twenty PubIzet Sarajlic 137 Luck in SarajevoMichael Longley 137 All of These PeopleMuriel Rukeyser 138 Waking This MorningDouglas Dunn 138 I Am a CameramanPhilip Gross 140 from The Wasting GameLeontia Flynn 143 BrinkwomanshipKen Smith 144 HereU.A. Fanthorpe 144 The UnprofessionalsStewart Conn 145 Visiting HourCarole Satyamurti 145 from Changing the SubjectNick Drake 150 The CureCharles Simic 150 Past-Lives TherapyAdrienne Rich 151 Diving into the WreckRichard Wilbur 153 April 5, 1974Michael Longley 154 At Poll SalachEdward Thomas 154 ThawMichael Longley 154 ThawFleur Adcock 155 KissingLeland Bardwell 155 How my true love and I lay without touchingBasil Bunting 156 ‘You idiot!…’Randall Jarrell 157 90 NorthE.J. Scovell 158 Listening to Collared DovesDavid Constantine 159 Watching for DolphinsJo Shapcott 160 GoatPeter Didsbury 161 The DrainageHelen Dunmore 162 Three Ways of Recovering a BodyTed Hughes 163 Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three DaysSylvia Plath 164 MushroomsDerek Mahon 166 A Disused Shed in Co. WexfordJohn Burnside 167 Unwittingly 5 Growing upKen Smith 171 Being the third song of UriasSujata Bhatt 172 White AsparagusAlden Nowlan 173 It’s Good To Be HereKathleen Jamie 174 UltrasoundHelen Dunmore 178 Safe periodKona Macphee 178 IVFJane Duran 180 MiscarriageMaura Dooley 181 FreightSharon Olds 181 First BirthSharon Olds 182 Her First WeekAnne Stevenson 183 The Spirit is too Blunt an InstrumentGavin Ewart 184 Sonnet: How Life Too Is SentimentalAnne Stevenson 184 Poem for a DaughterEllen Bryant Voigt 185 DaughterAdrian Mitchell 186 Beattie Is ThreeW.D. Snodgrass 186 from Heart’s NeedleGjertrud Schnackenberg 191 Supernatural LoveBrendan Kennelly 193 Poem from a Three Year OldRoger McGough 194 CindersKenneth Rexroth 195 A Sword in a Cloud of LightJános Pilinszky 197 On the Back of a PhotographFleur Adcock 197 The VideoP.K. Page 197 Young GirlsAdrian Mitchell 198 A Puppy Called PubertyAdrian Mitchell 199 A Dog Called ElderlyPaul Muldoon 199 CubaMichael Donaghy 200 My FluCharles Simic 201 ‘We were so poor…’Robert Hayden 201 Those Winter SundaysJulia Copus 202 The Back Seat of My Mother’s CarLouise Glück 203 Mirror ImageSylvia Plath 203 MirrorAnne Carson 204 Father’s Old Blue CardiganPhilip Larkin 205 This Be the VerseCaitríona O’Reilly 205 PossessionRandall Jarrell 206 A Night with LionsJoseph Brodsky 207 from A Part of SpeechEdward Thomas 209 Old ManRandall Jarrell 211 Thinking of the Lost WorldPaul Muldoon 213 QuoofHart Crane 214 ForgetfulnessBilly Collins 214 ForgetfulnessW.S. Merwin 215 Unknown ForbearDavid Scott 216 Groundsmen 6 Man and beastLes Murray 218 PigsDennis O’Driscoll 218 Experimental AnimalsAlden Nowlan 219 WeaknessStephen Dobyns 220 Spiritual ChickensJames Dickey 221 The Heaven of AnimalsNina Cassian 222 SacrilegeElena Shvarts 223 Remembrance of Strange HospitalityJulie O’Callaghan 224 Federal CaseFrank O’Hara 224 AnimalsCharles Simic 225 ‘The city had fallen…’Robert Adamson 225 The stone curlewPolly Clark 226 My Life with HorsesSeán Ó Riordáin 227 SwitchJames Wright 227 A BlessingMichael Longley 228 The HorsesSeamus Heaney 229 The SkunkThom Gunn 229 Considering the SnailFleur Adcock 230 For a Five-Year-OldTed Hughes 231 Full Moon and Little FriedaFrieda Hughes 231 BirdsJohn Montague 232 The TroutSusan Wicks 233 Night ToadSheila Wingfield 233 A BirdJohn Kinsella 234 Emu HuntLavinia Greenlaw 234 Night ParrotTed Hughes 235 The Thought FoxMichael Longley 236 Swans MatingMichael Ondaatje 236 The Strange CaseSelima Hill 237 CowKatrina Porteous 238 Seven SilencesJo Shapcott 239 LiesVicki Feaver 240 Glow WormJorie Graham 241 SalmonRichard Murphy 242 Seals at High IslandChris Greenhalgh 243 Of Love, Death and the Sea-SquirtCaitríona O’Reilly 244 OctopusPablo Neruda 245 Fable of the mermaid and the drunksStephen Knight 245 The Mermaid TankEdwin Morgan 246 The Loch Ness Monster’s SongGwendolyn MacEwen 247 The Death of the Loch Ness MonsterSeamus Heaney 248 Oysters 7 In and out of lovePaul Durcan 250 My Belovèd Compares Herself to a Pint of StoutDeborah Randall 251 Finney’s BarTracy Ryan 252 BiteSelima Hill 252 Desire’s a DesireMarge Piercy 253 Raisin PumpernickelC.K. Williams 254 Love: BeginningsPauline Stainer 255 The HoneycombMichael Longley 255 The Linen IndustrySharon Olds 256 Last NightJános Pilinszky 257 Definition of Your AttractionMichael Ondaatje 257 The Cinnamon PeelerSharon Olds 259 True LoveW.H. Auden 259 LullabyJulia Copus 261 In Defence of AdulteryRita Ann Higgins 261 The Did-You-Come-Yets of the Western WorldC.K. Williams 263 The MistressSharon Olds 263 EcstasyD.H. Lawrence 264 New Year’s EveSalvatore Quasimodo 265 Only if Love Should Pierce YouJo Shapcott 265 MuseJo Shapcott 266 LifePhilippe Jaccottet 267 DistancesDavid Constantine 268 ‘As our bloods separate’Judith Wright 268 Woman to ManGjertrud Schnackenberg 269 Snow MeltingEsta Spalding 270 AugustKevin Hart 274 The RoomSelima Hill 274 Don’t Let’s Talk about Being in LoveKatie Donovan 275 Yearn OnCarolyn Kizer 276 BitchEleanor Brown 277 BitcherelKatherine Pierpoint 278 This Dead RelationshipStephen Dunn 280 Each from Different HeightsRosemary Tonks 280 Badly-Chosen LoverAnne Stevenson 281 After the End of ItJános Pilinszky 282 RelationshipLouise Glück 282 Hesitate to CallNina Cassian 282 Lady of MiraclesFleur Adcock 283 Advice to a Discarded LoverKit Wright 284 The All Purpose Country and Western Self Pity SongJames McAuley 286 BecauseP.K. Page 287 CrossConrad Aiken 288 The QuarrelKapka Kassabova 289 And they were both rightMicheal O’Siadhail 290 BetweenW.B. Yeats 290 When You Are OldKate Clanchy 291 SpellZbigniew Herbert 291 ConchW.H. Auden 292 ‘O tell me the truth about love’Meg Bateman 293 LightnessJames Fenton 294 In Paris with You 8 My peopleJaan Kaplinski 297 ‘The East West border…’Kona Macphee 297 My PeopleAnna Akhmatova 298 Our Own LandRichard Wilbur 299 A Summer MorningStuart Henson 299 The HeronJo Shapcott 300 A Letter to DennisTony Harrison 301 TurnsDavid Constantine 301 The DoorPeter Reading 302 from Going OnPeter Didsbury 303 In BritainAnne Rouse 304 England NilJoanne Limburg 304 Barton-in-the-BeansEsther Morgan 305 The ReasonPhilip Pacey 306 Charged Landscape: UffingtonEdward Thomas 307 The CombeNorman Nicholson 307 WindscaleJohn Heath-Stubbs 308 The Green Man’s Last Will and TestamentRobyn Bolam 309 KithG.F. Dutton 310 passageRoddy Lumsden 311 An Outlying StationPeter Reading 311 from EvagatoryKen Smith 315 After Mr Mayhew’s visitRoy Fisher 315 The NationKit Wright 316 Everyone Hates the EnglishAndrew Salkey 317 A song for EnglandTom Leonard 317 The VoyeurW.N. Herbert 318 The King and Queen of DumfriesshireR.S. Thomas 319 ReservoirsHarri Webb 319 Synopsis of the Great Welsh NovelBernard O’Donoghue 320 Westering HomeGillian Clarke 321 Overheard in Co. SligoPatrick Kavanagh 321 Inniskeen Road: July EveningNuala Ní Dhomhnaill 322 The Language IssueColette Bryce 323 BreakSeamus Heaney 323 The Toome RoadPaul Muldoon 324 The SightseersCharles Simic 324 Dream AvenueE.E. Cummings 325 ‘ “next to of course god america i” ’Langston Hughes 326 I, TooFred Voss 326 Making America StrongImtiaz Dharker 327 They’ll say, ‘She must be from another country’Jackie Kay 329 In my countryShirley Geok-lin Lim 329 Modern SecretsMoniza Alvi 330 ExileSophia de Mello Breyner 331 ExileJane Griffiths 331 EmigrantsGrace Nichols 332 EpilogueCarol Ann Duffy 332 In Your MindSophia de Mello Breyner 333 HomelandJo Shapcott 333 MotherlandAnna Akhmatova 334 ‘That city that I have loved’Anne Michaels 335 from What the Light TeachesCzeslaw Milosz 336 My Faithful Mother TongueAdam Zagajewski 337 BetrayalGlyn Maxwell 338 We Billion CheeredC.P. Cavafy 339 Waiting for the BarbariansW.H. Auden 340 Gare du MidiWeldon Kees 340 The Coming of the PlagueGeorge Szirtes 341 Death by MeteorJamie McKendrick 342 Ancient History 9 War and peaceKate Clanchy 345 War PoetryCarl Sandburg 345 GrassMiroslav Holub 346 The flyWilfred Owen 347 Anthem for Doomed YouthFreda Downie 347 For Wilfred OwenSiegfried Sassoon 348 Everyone SangIsaac Rosenberg 348 Returning, we hear the LarksEdward Thomas 349 As the team’s head-brassMichael Longley 350 CeasefirePaul Durcan 351 The Bloomsday Murders, 16 June 1997Gwendolyn MacEwen 352 from The T.E. Lawrence PoemsKeith Douglas 354 VergissmeinnichtMairi MacInnes 355 The Old Naval AirfieldGeoffrey Hill 356 September SongBertolt Brecht 356 There is no greater crime than leavingW.H. Auden 357 September 1, 1939Bruce Weigl 360 On the Anniversary of Her GraceCarolyn Forché 361 Selective ServiceJames Fenton 361 CambodiaJo Shapcott 362 Phrase BookRobert Graves 363 The Persian VersionTony Harrison 364 Initial IlluminationIngeborg Bachmann 365 Every DayCésar Vallejo 366 from Spain, take away this cup from meWislawa Szymborska 367 The End and the BeginningThomas Lux 368 The People of the Other Village 10 Disappearing actsFrances Horovitz 371 Rain – BirdoswaldMichael Longley 371 Björn Olinder’s PicturesThomas Blackburn 372 Now Light CongealsCharles Simic 372 PsalmDennis O’Driscoll 373 SomeonePhilip Larkin 374 AubadeJaan Kaplinski 375 ‘Death does not come from outside…’A.E. Housman 376 ‘Good creatures…’Carolyn Kizer 376 ThrallTony Harrison 377 Bookends (I)Ellen Bryant Voigt 378 For My MotherDylan Thomas 379 Do Not Go Gentle into That Good NightAnon 379 ‘Do not stand at my grave and weep’W.H. Auden 380 Funeral BluesMichael Hartnett 381 Death of an IrishwomanMichael Longley 381 Water-burnMiroslav Holub 382 The deadGösta Ågren 382 Death’s SecretG.F. Dutton 383 Death in OctoberDavid Constantine 383 ‘Pity the drunks’David Scott 384 Scattering AshesThom Gunn 384 The Gas-pokerDavid Constantine 386 Boy finds tramp deadJohn F. Deane 387 On a Dark NightPamela Gillilan 388 Four YearsCaroline Smith 388 MetamorphosisLiz Lochhead 389 Sorting ThroughAlden Nowlan 389 This Is What I Wanted to Sign Off WithTess Gallagher 390 WakeP.K. Page 390 About DeathHoward Nemerov 391 The VacuumJeanne Willis 392 Inside Our DreamsThom Gunn 392 The ReassuranceTheodore Roethke 392 SheBrendan Kennelly 393 A Glimpse of StarlingsPablo Neruda 394 Dead WomanTess Gallagher 395 YesAndrew Motion 395 CloseSophia de Mello Breyner 396 InscriptionE.E. Cummings 397 ‘Buffalo Bill ’s’Billy Collins 397 The DeadTadeusz Rozewicz 398 ProofsAnne Carson 398 On Walking BackwardsStephen Dobyns 399 Cemetery NightsStephen Dunn 400 Father, Mother, Robert Henley who hanged himself in the ninth grade, et alVladimír Holan 400 ResurrectionCharles Causley 401 Eden RockJo Shapcott 402 When I DiedDana Gioia 402 All Souls’Philippe Jaccottet 403 from LessonsAugust Kleinzahler 405 Where Souls GoBrad Leithauser 405 A MosquitoLouise Glück 406 The Wild IrisDerek Mahon 407 AntarcticaPaul Muldoon 407 Why Brownlee LeftMatthew Sweeney 408 Sleep with a SuitcaseDerek Mahon 409 As It Should BeAmanda Dalton 409 How to DisappearVona Groarke 410 FolderolWeldon Kees 411 RobinsonSophia de Mello Breyner 411 Night and the HouseMiroslav Holub 412 Distant Howling 11 Me, the Earth, the UniverseJános Pilinszky 414 Homage to Isaac NewtonRobin Robertson 414 New GravityAdam Zagajewski 414 MomentYannis Ritsos 415 MorningMoniza Alvi 415 The Other RoomMiroslav Holub 416 Brief reflection on accuracySimon Armitage 417 Zoom!Seamus Heaney 418 from LighteningsEllen Hinsey 418 On the Uncountable Nature of ThingsAmy Clampitt 420 The Sun Underfoot among the SundewsJames Harpur 421 ‘I stretch my arms’James Merrill 421 A Downward LookCharles Causley 422 I Am the SongVasko Popa 422 from GamesDerek Walcott 423 EarthSheila Wingfield 423 WakingIvan V. Lalic 424 Places We LoveR.S. Thomas 424 MoorlandRobin Robertson 425 Three Ways of Looking at GodKerry Hardie 426 The AvatarAlden Nowlan 426 SacramentT.S. Eliot 427 Journey of the MagiWallace Stevens 428 The Snow ManPatrick Kavanagh 428 SanctityR.S. Thomas 429 Via NegativaCharles Simic 429 To the One UpstairsTomas Tranströmer 430 TracksElizabeth Jennings 431 DelayNorman MacCaig 431 Summer farmIain Crichton Smith 432 Tinily a star goes downCarol Rumens 432 Star WhisperGwyneth Lewis 433 from Zero GravityJane Cooper 434 RentElinor Wylie 435 Full MoonKapka Kassabova 435 Preparation for the big emptinessElizabeth Bishop 436 The ShampooAlice Oswald 437 MountainsKit Wright 437 The Other Side of the Mountain 12 The art of poetryPhilippe Jaccottet 440 from Songs from BelowArchibald MacLeish 441 Ars PoeticaW.S. Graham 442 The Beast in the SpaceAlden Nowlan 443 An Exchange of GiftsHelen Ivory 443 Note to the reader: this is not a poemRobert Hass 444 Meditation at LagunitasJaan Kaplinski 445 ‘Once I got a postcard…’Tomas Tranströmer 445 From March 1979Chase Twichell 446 Animal LanguagesVasko Popa 446 The Story of a StoryWallace Stevens 447 Not Ideas about the Thing but the Thing ItselfEamon Grennan 448 DetailRita Dove 448 ÖMark Strand 449 Eating PoetryHoward Nemerov 450 The Painter Dreaming in the Scholar’s HouseRobert Lowell 453 EpilogueGalway Kinnell 454 OatmealPatrick Kavanagh 455 Consider the Grass GrowingJoan Brossa 455 NoteSeamus Heaney 456 PostscriptRaymond Carver 456 Late Fragment Neil Astley 458 The Sound of Poetry464 Glossary471 Further reading473 Acknowledgements480 Index of writers486 Index of titles and first lines

‘These poems distil the human heart as nothing else… Staying Alive celebrates the point of poetry. It’s invigorating and makes me proud of being human’ – Jane Campion‘Truly startling and powerful poems’ – Mia Farrow‘Staying Alive is a blessing of a book. The title says it all. I have long waited for just this kind of setting down of poems - and the way they work together is wonderful - all come together to talk at the same table. Has there ever been such a passionate anthology? These are poems that hunt you down with the solace of their recognition' – Anne Michaels‘Staying Alive is a book which leaves those who have read or heard a poem from it feeling less alone and more alive’ – John Berger‘Staying Alive is a magnificent anthology. The last time I was so excited, engaged and enthralled by a collection of poems was when I first encountered The Rattle Bag. I can’t think of any other anthology that casts its net so widely, or one that has introduced me to so many vivid and memorable poems’ – Philip Pullman‘Usually if you say a book is “inspirational” that means it’s New Agey and soft at the center. This astonishingly rich anthology, by contrast, shows that what is edgy, authentic and provocative can also awaken the spirit and make its readers quick with consciousness. In these pages I discovered many new writers, and I’ve decided I’m now in love with our troublesome epoch if it can produce poems of such genius’ – Edmund White‘A vibrant, brilliantly diverse anthology of poems to delight the mind, heart and soul. A book for people who know they love poetry, and for people who think they don’t’ – Helen Dunmore'Staying Alive is a wonderful testament to Neil Astley's liftetime in poetry, and to the range and courage of his taste. It's also, of course, a testament to poetry itself: to its powers to engross and move us, to its ability to challenge and brace us, and to its exultation. Everyone who cares about poetry should own this book.' - Andrew Motion‘When you choose your book for Desert Island Discs, this should be it. Staying Alive proves that poetry is the most sustaining and life-affirming of literary forms. A triumph’ – Helena Kennedy