Poetry In The Care Home

"Si Pi!? That's a funny name..."

My first opportunity to work indoors and send invoices for my work was when I had just returned from an attempt to relocate and permanently set myself up in Floripa, Brazil. That vision only lasted about 6 months. When I returned, I went to a local radio station’s open day and ended up doing a poem live on air.

The station is called BCB and is still very much on the airways in Bradford and has been so for the last 30 years. The presenter, now a very good friend of mine, was Lorna Kook, an occupational therapist who immediately saw the potenital value of what I was doing in a care home setting.

She asked if I’d be interested in writing poems for her residents in a care home in Grassington, North Yorkshire, and I was open to it. I’d never thought of approaching a care home but it made a lot of sense. Lorna said that the care home probably wouldn’t pay me but I put a suggested fee in my introductory email anyway.

I remember sending that email very well. Hovering the mouse over the ‘send’ button. Working up the courage to ask for payment for my time and skills. Remarkably they agreed. Which will, I’m sure, have had great deal to do with Lorna really championing my cause. Something she still does to this day,

Here is the first poem I ever wrote in a care home. It was for a fellow poet, Joan, so I was given a challenge straight away. By now I’d written close to 100 poems for people on subjects of their choice, so I naturally asked Joan what she wanted a poem about. Immediately she said, “changes in my life”. That became the title of the poem. Here it is…

Changes In My Life

I once was somebody,

Somebody different to what I am.

Now times change,

And so, a new plan.

That somebody is still there.

Under a few layers of skin.

Though I sit getting fat,

And I sit getting thin.

A change of life,

Allows a few things to stay the same.

Although the meaning of routine,

Will always remain.

The meaning of life,

May be slightly different.

The house I bought,

Is up for rent and you’ve spent it.

Month by month,

Season by season,

Life tends to change,

And we look for a reason.

But when no one says when,

And no one says why.

We still believe the silence,

May have told us a lie.

All we can do is fly,

With the wings we have.

Even if our feathers

May tend to drag.

Phoenix be with us.

Phoenix be safe.

Because life changes.

So we need you just in case.

I am in the process of compiling the poems that I wrote during my time visiting care homes across North Yorkshire into a book. All profits made from book sales will go to funding Proseom’s mission to supporting patient’s emotional well-being during their time in hospitals.