The story
How Ode came to life.
A short documentary on the collaboration between Ode, Gravity Road and Microsoft AI.
An AI companion to lift your mood through poetry.
Try OdeWelcome to Ode
Find the poem
that finds you.
The promise of Ode
The film
01 — About Ode
It takes the feeling you cannot name and shows you that someone else felt it too — and found the words. That act of recognition is one of the most profound experiences available to a human being. And for most people, it has become almost completely inaccessible.
We are more connected, and more alone, than at any point in human history. Poetry — the art form built precisely for this — is receding from the people who need it most. Not because they don't feel. Because they don't believe it's for them.
At a moment of real anxiety about AI and human creativity, Ode shows another way. Not AI as creator. AI as curator — a bridge between a feeling you can't name and the poet who felt it first.
02 — How it works
A simple, spoken conversation — no searching, no scrolling, no need to know what you're looking for.
Drawn from one of the most celebrated poetry collections in the world, matched to exactly where you are right now.
Written by a human hand, read aloud by a real, named reader. The AI listens, interprets and connects — it never creates.
Its job is simply to find the poem that finds you.
03 — The Poetry Pharmacy
Ode is built on the best-selling poetry anthology series The Poetry Pharmacy, created by William Sieghart. Guided by a voice clone of Sieghart, the companion listens to how someone is feeling and then prescribes a poem from a catalogue of rights-cleared works.
Each poem is read by a real, named reader who has kindly supplied a recorded reading, including Stephen Fry, Harriet Walter, Indira Varma and Dominic West.
04 — The mission
Ode Poetry CIC is a social enterprise founded by William Sieghart and Amelia Richards in 2022, with a mission to enhance wellbeing and improve mental health through poetry.
An events programme in which actors read poems on stage to live audiences.
Collaborations with NHS trusts across the UK, where poems are displayed on walls to offer respite to patients and staff.
Working alongside mental health charities including MIND and Hospital Rooms.
The story
A short documentary on the collaboration between Ode, Gravity Road and Microsoft AI.
05 — Built by
Ode has been designed and built by creative studio Gravity Road in partnership with Microsoft AI. The experience is powered by Microsoft AI's latest voice agents.
Follow Ode
Poems, readings and quiet moments to lift your mood — shared with a growing community on Instagram. Come find the words that find you.
Follow @ode_poetry