News
To coincide with All Ireland Poetry Day on Thursday 3 October 2013, a unique poetry collection – a Menu of Poems, will be distributed on hospital wards, in waiting rooms, Day Care Centres and other health settings for patients, visitors and staff to enjoy.
This Menu of Poems, specially selected for adults in healthcare contexts, is available to anyone working in a healthcare facility to download, self-print and distribute in their own locations and has been designed as an A4 folded pamphlet.
The project has grown from year to year and this year’s offering, A Gathering Place, has been edited by the Sligo based poet and visual artist Alice Lyons with support from an Advisory Group of healthcare professionals and service users and was coordinated by the Arts Initiative in Mental Health, a programme of the Mental Health Services Sligo Leitrim. With gatherings of all kinds taking place across the Island of Ireland in 2013, it is fitting that this year’s menu gathers together poetry that deals with kinship, travel, gathering of one’s self and a poem about a table – what better gathering place?
Menu of Poems is a joint initiative between Arts for Health Partnership Programme West Cork, Waterford Healing Arts Trust, Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust, West Cork Mental Health Services, Naas General Hospital Arts Committee, Arts in Health at Cork University Hospital and the Arts Initiative in Mental Health. On All Ireland Poetry Day in 2011, the project reached approximately 7000 patients, staff and visitors and we invite those working in healthcare environments to print copies for meal trays, staff canteens or wherever people gather – you may even organise your own poetry reading event of these and other well-loved poems. Most of all, we hope you enjoy the poems selected!
To download a copy click here.
Menu of Poems is a project of Arts and Health Coordinators Ireland and is kindly supported by Poetry Ireland and the Health Service Executive, Health Promotion.
