The challenges I have taken on, endured and enjoyed in my life have generally been physical ones. If there is a medal, I will run it! But when it comes to emotions I am stereotypically British and always prefer to shy away from any real expression.  

I studied some of the poetry written by soldiers in World War 1 for “A” level English. I can still remember some of the lines; “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” (Wilfred Owen) and “there’s some corner of a foreign field, That is for ever England”(Rupert Brooke).

Dawn an educator in America was particularly struck by the ‘student’s voice – blog’ which was an insight into Cathi Leah’s Inpression of value of prose in care. Linking to a shared nursing theorist Jean Watson. Dawn’s response was wonderful – ‘finally! I can feel excitement for nursing theory. It is so abstract and sometimes does not connect in the early semesters to development of skills, but is so important in development of structure and attitude to care’ Bellow is a blog that centers around connections and creativity.

Back in February, a call went out on Twitter to share poems as part of something called #poeticnursingheart. I’m not a nurse, but I work closely with students and staff from nursing and other health professions. My role is as a librarian supporting the Health and Wellbeing programmes at the Medway campus. This idea of the Poetic Nursing Heart appealed to me both personally and professionally.