A few days a ago, I had the privilege of having an article appear over at Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo blog. In the article I wrote a little of the back story to go with some of the poems in my new collection – The New Asylum.

This week, I find myself preparing set lists of poems to read at a couple of book launch activities that are coming up, and for my own amusement, I thought I might audio record them, to help me sharpen up before reading to audience in a few days time.

It occurred to me that you might enjoy hearing some of the poems and I can share just a little of the back story, again, with you. Three poems today.

first breakfast

This poem tells the tale of a young mother who has to utilise her scant free time during a 13 hour shift to make sure her children are provided with the basics and ready for their day, before returning to the drudgery of the wards for the rest of her shift.

would you consider

As a young man, I swore I would not go the way of the rest of my family (and most of the town), by working my life away in the mental institution. I swore it!

In the end, though I think I may already have been a mental health creature, and ended up happy to accept any work in the institution, let alone becoming a nurse.

pecking order

One of the things that was not explained when my group began our student nursing training was the rigidity with which the various hierarchies operated. You were expected to magically understand all the necessary proprieties and to respect them.

My group were very poor at proprieties.

As an aside, my mother was an untrained member of a nursing staff group termed Ward Assistants. This group was low on the totem pole of nursing, but I vividly recall my mother cautioning me not to behave ‘like those other students’.

What she meant was that I needed to show respect, and at times deference, to the Ward Assistants because a) they knew what they were doing while other nursing staff generally did not, and b) they did most of the nursing work and c) if I failed to show due respect it would reflect badly back onto my mother.

Welcome to the institution, sit down in a corner, be quiet, and watch the show.

The paperback edition of The New Asylum becomes available online in just a couple of days. Pre-orders are being accepted now, I believe. It’s a unique journey and I don’t think you’ll regret having a copy on your shelf.

Within Australia? Contact me. I do mail-order.