The Hospital
is like a chateau.
The trees outside the windows seem alive with the breeze, trying to
escape their network of anchors
binding them to earth.
They huddle their canopies together ~
stretching tendril hands towards one another.
They are so full of shapes!
the copper earth ignites them –
exciting them to a frenzy of shimmering, arboreal joy!
a dance at their feet will release
the evening fireflies
who guide us to verdant glades
where quiet pools slake our thirst and
moisten our cinder-dry lips.
Artist's Statement
I want to dedicate this poem to my dear friends of the Bethlem Writer’s Collective, my inclusion in which was a big part of my long journey of recovery from a devastating mental breakdown. It was a safe and welcoming space where we were able to explore our voices as writers in the beautiful surroundings of Bethlem Hospital. I found comfort, understanding and kinship, travelling down from Brixton on the train each Wednesday. Despite being really very unwell and lacking proper support, I felt held and understood, something which had been missing from my life for a very long time. The poem was inspired by a van Gough painting: ‘The Saint-Paul Asylum’ at Saint-Remy-de-Provence during a workshop with the writer Tom Newlands.
For more information on Bethlem Writer’s Collective, follow the link here.
Siobhan Cawson-Mooney is our current Poet-in-Residence. Every now and then we find a voice that sings to us. Those voices that show us something new - voices from out there that somehow resonate deeply. Voices we just 'get'. When that happens we graciously ask that they join us for a time. To live and dream along with us.
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