101 Poems That Could Save Your Life

January 1, 2003
Getting Ready for (or Rid of) Cupid With its appealing heart-drawn-in-sugar cover and bite-sized format, 101 Poems That Could Save Your Life: An Anthology of Emotional First Aid may make for a point-of-sale panacea this Valentine's Day. Edited with an emphasis on British poets by London-based television producer Daisy Goodwin, this collection is introduced by NPR's Scott Simon, and categorically organized by daily travail, from "First date" and "First wrinkle" to "Staying married," "Stressed out" and "Successfully single." Poems and poets run the gamut from Wendy Cope's "How to Deal with the Press" ("She'll urge you to confide. Resist.") to Ogden Nash's "The Parent": "Children aren't happy with nothing to ignore,/ and that's what parents were created for."