Essential Poems from the Staying Alive Trilogy

by Neil Astley (Editor)

Staying Alive, Being Alive and Being Human have introduced many thousands of new readers to contemporary poetry, and have helped poetry lovers to discover the little known riches of world poetry. Each anthology in the Staying Alive series has 500 poems to touch the heart, stir the mind and fire the spirit. These books have been enormously popular with readers, especially as gift books and bedside companions. The poems – by writers from many parts of the world – have emotional power, intellectual edge and playful wit. This pocketbook selection of 100 essential poems from the first three anthologies is a Staying Alive travel companion (also available as an e-book). As well as selecting favourite poems from what was originally a trilogy – readers’ and writers’ choices as well as his own favourites – editor Neil Astley provides background notes on the poets and poems. A fourth volume in the series, Staying new poems for Staying Alive, was published in 2020. This format makes it even more suitable as a gift book for all those people you’re sure would love modern poetry if only they were familiar with these kinds of poems. These essential poems are all about being human, being alive and staying about love and loss; fear and longing; hurt and wonder; war and death; grief and suffering; birth, growing up and family; time, ageing and mortality; memory, self and identity; faith, hope and belief; acceptance of inadequacy and making do…all of human life in a hundred highly individual, universal poems.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2012

About the author

Neil Astley is editor of Bloodaxe Books, Britain’s leading poetry imprint, which he founded in 1978. His own books include novels, poetry collections and anthologies, most notably the Bloodaxe Staying Alive trilogy. He is also a trustee of Ledbury Poetry Festival and Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts, and a development committee member of Cúirt International Festival of Literature in Galway, Ireland.

Reviews

[Lily Sieber · Rating 4 out of 5]

ill keep some of these poems with me for life. been reading and re reading since mid summer, i think its time to set it down for a while.

[Vanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, great little book with wonderful poetry!

***

To be great, be whole: don't exaggerate
Or leave out any part of you.
Be complete in each thing. Putt all you are
Into the least of your acts.
So too in each lake, with its lofty life,
The whole moon shines.

Fernando Pessoa
(translated by Richard Zenith)

[Papercuts1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say?

I bought this distillation of Neil Astley’s “Staying alive” trilogy so I could carry it around with me, dive in for a quick poem, have something beautiful in my bag, at my disposal, all the time.

Well, that’s exactly what went down.

I took little sips from this collection, in doctor’s waiting rooms, during coffee breaks at work, on the passenger seat of someone’s car and, of course, also at home. And I consciously never read more than a handful of poems at a time, giving myself time to process.

I emerged from this anthology today with 11 new all-time favorites and just having cried over “Darling” that hit me out of the blue, in a tender spot.

A gorgeous, loving and touching collection for both long-standing poetry lovers and those who are new to the genre and ready to fall into open arms.

[Tyler Kershaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this was an absolute treat. I have only recently started sinking my teeth into more contemporary poetry and this anthology really made me respect modern poetry. Before reading this I was under the assumption that contemporary poetry was ruled by cringy slam poetry that is on all levels atrocious. However this has opened my eyes to the creative and thoughtful poetry that is alive and well today.

[Cian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this on a whim last year and I'm so glad I did. I recognised many of the poems or authors, but there were some new delights to discover too. There were maybe two or three poems that I didn't connect with, but this is a terrifically strong collection. If I could only have one anthology by my bed, it would be this one.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the nice things about the full trilogy is the thematic organization and introductory comments focused on the substance, and this smaller selection lacks that. So I'm knocking a star off to warn you: it'd be better to get some or all of the full volumes from this series. Still, there is very good stuff.

Great Things Have Happened

We were talking about the great things
that have happened in our lifetimes;
and I said, ‘Oh, I suppose the moon landing
was the greatest thing that has happened
in my time.’ But, of course, we were all lying.
The truth is the moon landing didn’t mean
one-tenth as much to me as one night in 1963
when we lived in a three-room flat in what once had been
the mansion of some Victorian merchant prince
(our kitchen had been a clothes closet, I’m sure),
on a street where by now nobody lived
who could afford to live anywhere else.
That night, the three of us, Claudine, Johnnie and me,
woke up at half-past four in the morning
and ate cinnamon toast together. 
‘Is that all?’ I hear somebody ask.
Oh, but we were silly with sleepiness
and, under our windows, the street-cleaners
were working their machines and conversing in Italian, and
everything was strange without being threatening,
even the tea-kettle whistled differently
than in the daytime: it was like the feeling
you get sometimes in a country you’ve never visited
before, when the bread doesn’t taste quite the same,
the butter is a small adventure, and they put
paprika on the table instead of pepper,
except that there was nobody in this country
except the three of us, half-tipsy with the wonder
of being alive, and wholly enveloped in love. 
ALDEN NOWLAN

[Gabija · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not understand the logic of this poetry compilation. The nationalities, time periods and styles of the selected poets are a bit all over the place; the choices the editors made seemed quite arbitrary to me. Too many poems from English-speaking countries for this to be an international collection and too many translations for this to be a representation of contemporary English (American, Irish) poetry. Same with the decades the authors are from: no clear consistency, or maybe I just didn't notice it. Chaotic.

But then again: why not? I really liked almost all of the poems in this book, or at least, I loved a much higher percentage of them than I do in most poetry compilations. This chaos of a collection was very enjoyable, and in a vague, subtle way all the poems really fit in by vibe. If there is an anthology you should be allowed to compile by vibe, it's an anthology of poetry. I like that this book was a collection of very subjectively chosen poetry and didn't seem to pretend to be otherwise.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Aimée and Harriet often write quick reviews so I feel I should to.)

I bought this in attempt to read more poetry that wasn't so modern as 'Milk and Honey.' I'm only just beginning to kindle my love for poetry but this was a great one for beginners.

Poems about important themes that feel as if they were written over the last 50 or 100 years or so. A few that were perfect but mostly random poems that held a beautiful few lines. It was interesting to read about so many themes in one book given in this a shorten copy of the three larger volumes.

I will endeavour to read those eventually but not right now. I feel have other more pressing things to read before then.

[T.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Weighing
By Jane Hirschfield

The heart's reasons
seen clearly,
even the hardest
will carry
its whip-marks and sadness
and must be forgiven.

As the drought-starved
eland forgives
the drought-starved lion
who finally takes her,
enters willingly then
the life she cannot refuse,
and is lion, is fed,
and does not remember the other.

So few grains of happiness
measured against all the dark
and still the scales balance.

The world asks of us
only the strength we have and we give it.
Then it asks more, and we give it.

[Chelsea Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of poems for any mood, particularly good for giving you a boost or helping you keep it real when you're dealing with tough stuff. It contains lots of familiar well known and loved poems but also has some lesser known poets in there for a bit of variety. Has a decent amount of poems to keep you going for a while also and is good to dip in and out of. Well worth its place on the shelf.

[Miriam James · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual with poetry collections, there were some in here that I loved and some I didn't connect with as much. But the ones that I liked I really enjoyed - and I discovered a few new favourites from this collection! I liked how this collection was laid out, with several poems linked by the same theme often following each other. This was a lovely collection with some beautiful poems.

[nimrodiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had some fantastic poems in it and some I didn't care for. There were well known poets and ones whose work was new to me. This edition was a World Book Night volume that was passed along to me. I quite enjoyed it as a break from the world events occuring and the more weighty non fiction book I recently started.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book. I'm so grateful that it came into my life. Not only did it help my own writing but it helped me work through some emotional trauma that I still struggle with

[szymborskalyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of the poems. Some are a little hoary but I don’t mind it.

[Alina · Rating 3 out of 5]

As expected, a mixed bag.

[K.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful collection of global poems. I used this to find new poets and expand my bookshelf!

[Niamh Siobhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandma introduced me to these poetry books and I’ve loved them ever since

[Emily Hems · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good poems and I liked the way it was organised.

[Michelle (Fluttering Butterflies) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this collection of poetry makes me want to pick up the Staying Alive trilogy from which these poems were selected. I much prefer modern poetry and I loved the depth and breadth of topics that appear in this collection from love and loss to the human spirit. I love how much poetry lifts me up, as so many of these poems did.

[Hannah]

The hundred poems here are a good distillation of the fantastic Staying Alive trilogy from Bloodaxe Books. Another plus is that several translated poems are included—for me, an introduction to some major poets from e.g. Estonia, Poland, Scandinavia. One of these poems in this collection made me cry in public today (I won't say which). <3

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely collection of poetry.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eclectic mix of poems with useful biographies of the poets

[Giskin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains hundreds of poems, old and new. Loosely arranged by theme, there are plenty of medical poems in this collection.

[DragonflyDreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Y

[Moved to Storygraph! (daisydostoevsky) · Rating 5 out of 5]

i guess we are staying alive today ladies

[Ezgi Çiçek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection to keep in your ebook reader.

[Child · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've liked only a handful of these poems. But it seems to always happen, those few poems are worth the whole book. I guess that's poetry for you.