'It should be done everywhere' - Patients at Irish hospital receive poetry postcards

Patients and staff at a Waterford hospital have received postcards featuring poems as part of an annual wellbeing festival. 

The Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing's 'Fancy a Lift?' series 2023 distributed the poetry postcards to patients and staff of University Hospital Waterford (UHW) this week via meal trays and staff emails. 

The five poems - which were curated and read by poet Stephen James Smith (@SJSwords) - are also available online. 

They include 'Camán/Hurley' by Paul Casey, 'Bog Medicine' by Annemarie Ní Churreáin, 'Seed' by Paula Meehan, 'Amber' by Eavan Boland, and 'My Wife Thinks I’m at a Poetry Reading' by Phil Lynch. 

Waterford Live spoke to Smith about the initiative, which took place all this week from February 13 to February 17. 

He said, "We've chosen five different sorts of poems; one's kind of for a bit of solace, one with a bit of humour for Valentine's Day. It's a lovely project to be part of." 

Although he believes poetry is "a hard sell", he is hopeful people have benefited from the postcards. 

Watch the 4th video of the 'Fancy a lift?' series, created in partnership with @WellWaterford.

Today's poem is Bog Medicine by @NiChurr.@WaterfordLibs @garterlane @artscouncil_ie @HSELive @HsehealthW @WaterfordCounci #Irish #Poetry @CWBdotie pic.twitter.com/OadDj7UJNl

— Stephen James Smith (@SJSwords) February 16, 2023

"You're literally getting it bang with your tea and your toast, and maybe some of those people haven't heard of these poems before and hopefully they might decide to investigate a bit further, and it might give them food for thought. They are beautiful poems." 

He recalled a reading of an Eavan Boland poem which he said "took my breath away". 

"That had an impact on me and I kept going back to it, so I'm hoping that will give other people a chance to go and investigate these poets," he said.  

Smith hopes a poem about hurling will reach some of the people in the hospital. 

"Waterford have a proud hurling tradition and the last in the series is by Paul Casey [called] Cumán/Hurley. I just think it's nice when you're trying to elevate sport, really; people sometimes mightn't see the link between the artistry of sport and poetry and I thought Paul did a lovely job with that.

"There might be some men there - I'm generalising now - but I imagine there's a few men there that are big Waterford GAA fans and the poem might speak to them. 

"I try to choose a poem each day that might speak to the person. Hopefully everyone remains open to the different poems chosen." 

According to Smith, people outside Waterford are also engaging with the poems. 

He said, "I've received messages from people who aren't in the hospital, because we're putting up videos [online] and sharing them. In fact, somebody in Australia ripped the audio from one of them and played it on the radio in Australia. So it's not just Waterford." 

Smith would like to see the initiative rolled out in every county, stating it's "a nice idea". 

He said, "It requires thought, the thought process takes up the time, but I think it should be done everywhere, yeah." 

The poems were chosen carefully by Smith around topics such as family, memory and nature, as well as a poem containing tongue-in-cheek humour.  

Copies of the postcards were also sent to the poets involved, with Smith stating they've messaged to thank him for including them. 

He said, "Amber is about Eavan's mother and the passing of her mother, and her memory as well really struck me. I thought that would be [beneficial for people] thinking about their family history and memories. 

"Seed [sic] challenges this idea of maybe religion and praying to religion but actually she's praying to the power of seed and what it brings us, and renewal, and maybe the people in the hospital might be thinking of renewal themselves and new beginnings, so that's why I chose that one." 

"It's a lovely project." 

To listen to all five poems, click here.