Menu of Poems, national
Year
Annually
Artists
- Various
Supported by
- HSE
- Poetry Ireland
- Saolta Arts
- Saolta University Health Care Group
- Arts + Health Co-ordinators Ireland
- Healthy Ireland
On behalf of Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland, Saolta Arts presents Menu of Poems 2024 selected by Jane Clarke.
“I love the Menu of Poems project; that people in hospitals and healthcare settings around the country will find poems waiting for them this November. I enjoyed choosing the poems and I hope that reading and rereading them will give pleasure, solace and companionship. A poem may be small but the words create music and pictures that echo in our minds for as long as we need them.”
— Jane Clarke
Perhaps the World Ends Here
By Joy Harjo
An Empty Barn in the Midlands
By Eva Bourke
The Yellow Jumper
By Jane Clarke
A Vole Poem
By Linda McGrory
‘Menu of Poems’ is a project of Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland, managed and produced by Saolta Arts.
Please email your comments to: saoltaarts@hse.ie
Download Menu of Poems and the Menu of Poems (Childrens poem)
Celebrating Poetry, a Menu of Poems has served a helping of poetry on the hospital meal trays of Ireland since its conception in 2008. Each year, ten thousand copies of a short anthology of poetry are distributed throughout Irish hospital wards, waiting rooms and other healthcare contexts for patients, visitors and staff to enjoy. A project for Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland, we are currently the producer for Menu of Poems. Previous poets include, Naomi Shihab Nye, Colette Bryce, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Michael Coady, Ailbhe Darcy, Rita Ann Higgins and Theo Dorgan.
A Menu of Poems will be distributed this November throughout various Irish hospital wards, waiting rooms, and other healthcare settings for patients, staff, and visitors to enjoy.
The poetry, circulated on trays during mealtimes, aims to provide comfort, inspiration, and a moment of reflection for patients in particular. This year’s selection is edited by award winning Irish Poet Jane Clarke and includes three poems by renowned poets Eva Bourke, Jane Clarke, and Joy Harjo. Jane has also selected a poem for children. A Vole Poem by Linda McGrory will be shared with children and includes an activity selected by Lucinda Jacob.
Jane Clarke’s three poetry collections, The River (2015), When the Tree Falls (2019) and A Change in the Air (2023) are published by Bloodaxe Books. Jane grew up on a farm in Co. Roscommon and lives with her wife in the uplands of Co. Wicklow. She edited the illustrated anthology Windfall: Irish Nature Poems to Inspire and Connect (Hachette Books Ireland, 2023) and her most recent collection, A Change in the Air, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2023 and the T.S. Eliot Prize 2023.
Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland is an all-Ireland support network of professionals who are responsible for managing arts and health initiatives. Formed in 2003, AHCI aims to build capacity and maximise resources for its membership, who work in the Arts and Health Sector throughout Ireland, North and South. The network members co-ordinate a range of arts and health activities, including environmental enhancement, visual art, sculpture, performance, participatory and collaborative arts practice, professional development for artists and staff, artist residencies, health promotion and arts and health research.
Menu of Poems 2024 Photo Credit: Andrew Downes.
