Review – Crown of Thorns by Bethany W Pope

(Oneiros Books 2013, price £5)

Bethany Pope’s latest collection Crown of Thorns describes itself on the title page as a ‘Marriage of Forms’. Indeed it is the formal structure the poet employs in this book, with such elegance and apparent ease, which must be first and foremost admired. A marriage is a union and Pope’s collection, a complex weaving of narrative is conceived as a single poem which tells the story of family – Pope’s own family and her place in it. And quite a story it is too. The story is told unflinchingly through a series of sonnet crowns that are variously and ingeniously linked, by theme, by storyline, even by bloodline. The final section of the book ‘Bloodlines’, consisting of 45 sonnets subdivided into three sections is a further variation on the sonnet crown form described by Pope as an Emperors Crown. The result is an epic, almost biblical depiction of ancestral ties and the family tree to which the poet belongs. In the first of these 45 sonnets Pope writes The/History of family sets the future in its tread. This is the adage on which the entire book rests. 

Lapidus Weekend 2013

It was good to see Lapidus members and guests from all over the UK gathered in Bristol for the Lapidus weekend, on 5-6th October 2013. The sun shone, Bristol looked beautiful and the venue - Engineers' House - was welcoming and very comfortable.

The weekend was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with others with an interest and/or working in writing and wellbeing, and hear guest speakers Ted Bowman on how to Pack Your Bag with Words, (the man is amazing) and poet Matt Harvey on tennis and conkers and many other things.

There were a range of workshops including one on the therapeutic benefits of Hip Hop for bereaved young people by Kiran Bangerh. 

Manu Rodriguez spoke on writing another perspective on disability/ability and Victoria Field about the training she is offering to become a Poetry Therapist. This is the first time this training has been available in the UK. Contact Vicky for more details.

Bibliography – what are your key sources?

WORDS FOR WELL-BEING

A BIBLIOGRAPHY RELATING TO LAPIDUS' INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES

Originally compiled in 2003 by Dr Maria Antoniou, this list is intended to be of use to all members of Lapidus - including writers, therapists, service users, academics and those with a personal interest in using ‘creative words for health and well-being’. As such, a diverse range of material is included.

Many of the materials listed could be classified in several categories. However, each text is listed only once – in the category that seems to best describe its content and potential audience / use. Where all of the chapters of an edited collection are potentially suitable for inclusion in this list, only the book title is listed.

There are inevitably gaps. Many subjects remain un(der)-represented. These omissions point to areas where more writing and research work is needed.

The Arts and End of Life: Round Table at the House of Commons

by Fiona Hamilton

Last November I participated in an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Round Table at the Houses of Parliament looking at the arts in Palliative Care, Dying and Bereavement.

Website: http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/APPG

Standing on the windy gangway waiting to be checked in, dwarfed by the towering palace and stone and bronze statues, I felt excited and intrigued. Jane Moss and I had met up beforehand. We ran through points we hoped to make (and had a few laughs to dispel nerves), before entering the main hall. After taking photos, reading quotes on the colourful banners depicting political movements, and noting the plaque on the floor where Nelson Mandela once stood, we found our way through the central lobby, familiar from news on TV, into a quaint wood-framed lift, which took us up to the committee room.

Accreditation to work with the Literary Arts in Developmental and Therapeutic Contexts

by Celia Hunt, Reader in Continuing Education and Convener of the MA in Creative Writing and Personal Development, Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex 2004 

Amongst my hopes for Lapidus when it was first established in 1996 were that it would be able to organise training for people wishing to work with the literary arts as a developmental and therapeutic tool, and also to facilitate accreditation for such people. Training has been the easier of these to achieve, and it has been exciting to see the development in recent years of short training courses and the peer-learning programme organised by Anne Caldwell and others. The Postgraduate Diploma (now MA) in Creative Writing and Personal Development at the University of Sussex which I set up with Fiona Sampson in 1996 was also partly a desire to provide such training, and in the last two years the expansion of the programme into a two-year part-time MA has enabled us to include specific professional development options for people wishing to work with the literary arts in therapeutic contexts.

Online Resources

ORGANISATIONS: INFORMATION AND NETWORKS

Arts, Health and Wellbeing - the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing is a national resource for creativity and health

Healthy, Social, Creative - Information and signposting for health professionals and others working with people affected by long-term conditions in relation to arts and creative initiatives

Arts & Health South West - Aims to raise the profile and influence the development of the Arts and Health sector across the region as well as provide information and support, including a database of practitioners and projects

Core Competencies for Working with the Literary Arts for Personal Development, Health and wellbeing

by Rose Flint, Fiona Hamilton & Claire Williamson ©2004

Contents

• What's Required of the Writer in Healthcare?
• Practicalities Now
• What is Required of the Healthcare Provider?
• Future Vision

This document is a distillation of our thoughts and discussions over the past year. Here we aim to set out the conditions necessary for creative writing sessions to be delivered and received effectively in healthcare settings. We hope that this document will provoke discussion and further contributions from all interested parties to the evolution of this vital and exciting field of work.

Project evaluation reports – sharing the learning

Should you have an evaluation report related to a project, please do share for the wider Lapidus International community. Here are some examples from

Report - Brooklea Health Centre Creative Writing and Art Groups for Patients 2010-2011 by Dr J. Wood and Dr L. Younie. See Brooklea Health Centre Creative Writing & Art

A Thematic Analysis of Participants’ Feedback in Writing Sessions in a Primary and a Secondary Care Setting in the NHS by Fiona Hamilton. See A thematic analysis

University of Gloucestershire Evaluation of Art Lift Executive Summary 2011; Art Lift - Economic Impact Study; Art Lift - Case Studies - see ArtLift Evaluations

Out of Our Heads! Four Perspectives on the Curation of an On-line Exhibition of Medically Themed Artwork by UK Medical Undergraduates by Trevor Thompson, Danny van de Klee, Catherine Lamont-Robinson, Will Duffin in Medical Education Online