Poems for the art of nursing

This information supports the article 'RCN backs free poems project', published in RCN Bulletin, 15 June 2011, page 2

Find out more about Poems for...

Poems for... was established by Rogan Wolf, a mental health social worker and passionate poet, back in 1997. After observing people in waiting rooms and feeling that poems were not broadcast widely enough, he sought support from the Poetry Society to conduct a pilot project in London. It was well received and later secured funding from the Arts Council as well as the Department of Health and NHS Estates.

Rogan says: "My observations as a social worker over the years made me realise that institutions seeking to support and heal often also depersonalise and reduce. In the waiting room you too easily become nothing more than your presenting symptoms, a mere name in a queue of parts. So poems displayed in the waiting room can perhaps help correct that distortion, and offer recognition of the whole person, not just a set of symptoms but also a weaver of your own particular dreams and carrier of your own particular history."

Now the Poems for... website contains collections of more than 200 poems appropriate for different health care settings. These are free to download as small posters or can be acquired in hard copy. Fifty languages are represented in the 'Poems for…one world' collection, each with a good English translation beside it. As a result of these bilingual poems, the project has gone global.

Download copies of Michael Rosen's poem to celebrate the NHS

The poem These are the hands, was written by Michael Rosen to celebrate the 60th aniversary of the NHS. It is available on the Poems for... website as part of a collection called 'The art of nursing' and can also be downloaded here. See how to access PDF files.

These are the hands - English (PDF 136KB)
Greek translation (146KB)
Turkish translation (162KB)
Punjabi translation (145KB)
Punjabi translation in Urdu script (152KB)
Somali translation (165KB)

Access the Poems for... website

Go to www.poemsfor.org to discover more about the project and download free poem posters. You will need to register your details to do this but this is also free and takes just a couple of minutes.