I am Submissions Editor for Poems in the Waiting Room.
Poems in the Waiting Room (PitWR) is an Arts in Health charity, registered in the U.K. and was set up to supply short collections of poems as cards for patients to read while waiting to see their doctor and to take away with them. There is no charge to the patient or to the NHS.
As Covid has limited patients’ access to waiting rooms, PitWR currently seeks to show gratitude to health services staff for their care, and to promote poetry by publishing on the PitWR website, quarterly selections of uplifting poetry by both established and new poets. The aim is to help form a healing environment for patients.
http://www.poemsinthewaitingroom.org/
Three of my own poems have been published by Poems in the Waiting Room.
BLACKBIRD
In the liquid engineering of the dawn
an oily overalled mechanic
dips his black can
again, again,
fine tuning the
amazing green technology of lawn.
PENCIL
Why do you whisper?
The Author makes me a channel of his piece.
What do you think of while you’re waiting?
The close caress of eyes and breath.
How do you feel about age and growing smaller?
Inevitable. It’s the rubber I hate.
What is the most memorable thing you’ve said?
All words are equal.
Do you recall the forest,
0r don’t you believe in reincarnation?
My words are the shadows of leaves.
And yes, I am a cousin to the paper.
How do you feel about coloured pencils?
They’d be lost without me!
Do you prefer to be held by men or women?
No preference – but I dislike being sucked.
How does it feel when you have to lie?
What do you mean?
Do full stops hurt?
They’re a kiss upon the lip of silence.
DEAR GRASS
Respect.
You are Nature’s little black dress.
Forgive our attempts
to bonsai exuberance.
Thanks for meadows and links,
marram and couch,
for your generous
paddies, savannahs and prairies.
Blanched, rinsed and boiled
we rely on your seeds.
Forgive us our trespasses.
We wish you to thrive.