Following comments by patients about the starkness of waiting areas in the health centre where I work as a Practice nurse, the practice acquired some modern art , and I began to think about the reading material on offer in the waiting rooms. I am always looking for ways of introducing my own poetry to the public, and wondered if there might be an opportunity here to do so. I also wanted to share my delight in the work of other poets, both well known and not so.
and ‘Poems in the Waiting Room’ : I suggested to the practice that we did something similar, but with more focus on the work of local contemporary poets, and poems written for children. I also wanted to change the poems every two months, and base choices on a series of themes.
The practice agreed to pilot the project for 12 months, at the end of which time I shall audit patients' responses. Interestingly, within days of the local press covering the story I received both positive comments, and unsolicited poems from patients .
The first series of poems are inspired by Winter and the New Year. Because of copyright law, some poets had to be contacted for permission to use their work. Despite there being no financial reward, all were happy for their poems to be displayed. The selected poems could be read by to up to 1000 people waiting to see a health care professional, and this is exceptional exposure for a poet.
The poems for January/February are an eclectic mix: Shakespeare’s Spring and Winter 11, Tennyson's In Memoriam LXXXIII, my own poem Leicester Square Tube, Christmas, Snowflakes by Emily Dickinson,The Willow-Man by Juliana Horatia Ewing,Snowball Fights by Gareth Lancaster http://www.fizzyfunnyfuzzy.com/index.php, Christmas 1945 by Stan Bloxham, and the following poem by Ann Cameron Price, a gift from her several years ago, and pinned to my clinic noticeboard to give delight ever since:
Oh slim new moon, this winter night, Use all your crescent’s meagre light To shine on Tynyberwydd farm And see that nothing comes to harm. You come unbidden while we sleep Oh snow, but lay your drifts less deep On fields where Tynyberwydd sheep Are searching bravely for their keep. Take heed, you threatening winter gales, Be kindly when you come to Wales And make your savage gusts less hard When passing through Tynyberwydd yard. Blow ‘round Llanfair Caereinion’s trees As though you were a summer breeze. Blow soft on Tynyberwydd girls And do not disarrange their curls. You mad Jack frost, within your grip Full many a body feels a nip. Wreak havoc with your icy spears But do not freeze their little ears. You fairies in Tynyberwydd wood, Weave spells of magic for their goods, And all the elements combine To treat them well this wintertime. Oh strong young moon above our farms You bear the old moon in your arms. Shed on Tynyberwydd’s golden dreams The silver blessing of your beams. | 
