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Sixteen Sonnets For Care by Martin Figura

£7.50

Pamphlet 216mm x 140mm

B&W inners 28pp

Publication date 1/11/2022

Category:

Description

“These poems tell the truth about social care.
They are drawn from the voices of people working in social care, and from the people they care for in Norfolk.
They give life to the bravery, sacrifices, dedication and ordinary love that people showed during the COVID outbreaks in 2020-2021.
These poems were commissioned as part of the Social Care Day of Reflection and Remembrance which took place on the 17th March 2022 where 22 organisations came together to give thanks, show respect, celebrate and mark the impact of COVID 19 on Social Care.
They should be read and be heard and we encourage their presence in our meetings, workplaces and events!”
Oonagh Smyth, CEO, Skills for Care; James Bullion, Adass President 2020-21, DASS Norfolk

 

About Martin Figura 

He is a poet, photographer, winner of the 1975 RAPC Apprentice College Accountancy Prize and was recently described as a pleasant sixty-year-old gentleman (hospital referral letter)
His poetry ranges from biting satire – “Figura was a revelation – funny, sharp and on top form.” Robert McCrum, The Observer – to the dark material of Whistle – “His subject matter is so challenging it makes the audience gasp. In spite of this, he engages the listener with warmth and humour.” Patience Agbabi.
In 2021 he was Poet-in-Residence for NHS Salisbury to write poems about the experience  of staff at Salisbury Hospital during Covid.  Olivia Coleman was filmed reading Night Shift and The Fifth Season from My Name is Mercy. His reading of Night Shift was selected for the Poetry Archive’s Worldview 2021.
This Commission from Social Care charities has followed.

About Fair Acre Press

Fair Acre Press has published the acclaimed Martin Figura pamphlet on the NHS through the pandemic: My Name is Mercy.

Fair Acre Press has also published the highly regarded poets Selima Hill, Mario Petrucci and Fred D’Aguiar; the acclaimed NHS anthology These are the Hands; the prize-winning #MeToo anthology; the Ted Hughes Award for New Poetry-winning play by Kate O’Reilly; the first novel of polymath and nature writer Charles Foster; and other eclectic award-winning and 5 star reviewed books. Please click here for more information on other books published by Fair Acre Press.

 

The first Sonnet in the pamphlet:

Sonnets for Care

I’m sorry, all I can offer is a ragged paper crown,
plain, made with words, most of them yours.
It weighs no more, maybe less than applause.
I’ve listened and heard what I should have known.
There is duty, then beyond, then what you’ve done
for us all, our vulnerability unsteady between mirrors
is infinite – corridor after corridor after corridor
without end, you carry us all, as if we were your own.
You are all of you, part Spartacus, part Sisyphus,
your laminate passes: gleaming medals of honour.
Jeopardy fell heaviest for those with the least
and you were amongst them, forgive us for this,
and our promises and lack of endeavour.
I wish I had more; I wish words were a feast.

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