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Picture
Picture
Picture

POETRY BLOOMS FROM MEMORY 
LOSS IN HEREFORDSHIRE

John has been involved in a poetry project for people with dementia for two and a half years now. It is based at the Courtyard Centre for the Arts in Hereford and is run by the Arts and Older Person’s Officer. 

The first phase lasted from April to July in 2011 culminating in a reading at the Ledbury Poetry Festival and the publication of a book of poems made from the words of people with dementia called In the Pink. 

The second phase began immediately and resulted in a second book Singing Under Our Breath a year later. 

The third phase will last until March 2014. John is mentoring four poets long distance, and they meet quarterly to review progress and he runs training sessions for staff from the care homes, day centres and hospital wards where they work. A third book, postcards and a CD are in preparation.

Here is a poem from the Singing Under Our Breath:

HE TAUGHT ME TO DANCE


That was when that sailor turned up
He taught me to dance in the night
And he was drunk
That was in Hereford

I remember there was a parquet floor
With lots of knots in it
But it was polished up to the nines
And that’s where we went to dance.


I don’t know whether he was teaching me
Or I was teaching him
He took me round anyway
It was naughty but nice
He said goodnight
And went

And I said “Thank God for that!”
I never seen him again.                         MOLLY MULLINGER