Poems on toilet doors
This is so very funny. I laugh, but, really, it's all done in absolute English-stiff-upper-lip seriousness.
It seems in Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital the doors of the toilets would display poems. And, on the palatable side of this, they would also display as poetry menu on the tables of the hospital's restaurant.
The hospital is calling this Poetry Treatment, started this 5th of the month.
This is no sniggering matter, as I just said. Big names in British poetry has already donated poems to the Hospital Arts Project and Poetry Trust staff to put up in commissioned frames: Connie Bensley, Roger McGough, Ian McMillan, Adrian Mitchell, Helena Nelson, Michael Rosen, Dean Parkin and Jackie Wills.
There are even writing workshops led by Michael Laskey, poet and founder of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival and Jane Anderson, the Poetry Trust's Learning and Outreach worker. And everyone in the hospital, from the highest level of staff, nurses and consultants, to lowly ones, like cleaners and catering staff, could read their poems out loud.
According to Naomi Jaffa, Poetry Trust director, this is supposed "to give people something a bit different and perhaps help them forget their worries for a time." The hospital wants to take "poetry to such a large and varied audience and hopefully winning some converts along the way”.
Kudos to her and her hospital.
