Poet Anne Tannam selects Menu of Poems for patients and staff of Irish hospitals for Poetry Day Ireland today!
A Menu of Poems will be shared with patients, staff, and visitors across Irish hospitals and healthcare settings. Circulated on meal trays, the initiative offers moments of comfort and reflection, reaching over 12,000 people as part of an all-island celebration of poetry.
Launched in 2008, Menu of Poems is an annual poetry anthology that Arts for Health, West Cork has proudly taken part in for more than 15 years. Produced by Arts and Health Coordinators Ireland, with Saolta Arts as the lead organisation and support from Poetry Ireland and HSE Health Promotion and Improvement, the initiative brings meaningful artistic encounters into healthcare settings across the country. Each year, the curated Menu of Poems enriches healthcare settings nationwide by offering patients, staff, and visitors a meaningful encounter with the arts.
The 2026 edition, curated by Anne Tannam, features poems by Alvy Carragher (In Other Words), Luke Morgan (Longitude), and Marie Howe (Reunion), alongside her own online bonus poem, The Art of Listening. A children’s poem, My Delicious Hat by Paul Timoney, will also be distributed in paediatric settings. All poems are available to download, with recordings online.
Anne Tannam, Menu of Poems Editor 2026, said: “Sometimes, life can be hard to navigate. And it can feel lonely, too. For me, poetry helps me to find myself when I’m lost, and to lose myself when I’m too much in my head, worrying about things beyond my reach. In difficult times, there is no kinder or more understanding companion than a poem, especially when it captures something of the fullness of what it means to be alive. Reading these poems, I hope you find pleasure and solace in their company.”
Claire Power, Director at Poetry Ireland said: “We are thrilled to see Saolta Arts and Arts and Health Coordinators Ireland collaborating once again to roll out Menu of Poems in hospitals across Ireland. Menu of Poems is a truly special initiative that helps to connect people and poetry at times when people may need a moment of solace or joy most. I don’t doubt that this will once again be a wonderful celebration of poetry, especially with Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann’s former Poet in Residence Anne Tannam curating this year’s selection of poems.”
One of the poems …
Reunion by Marie Howe
The very best part was rowing out onto the small lake
in a little boat:
James and I taking turns fishing, one fishing while the other rowed
slowly —
the long sigh of the line through the air,
and the far plunk of the hook and the sinker —
lily pads, yellow flowers
the dripping of the oars
and the knock and creak of them moving in the rusty locks.
“Reunion” © 2024 by Marie Howe. Published with kind permission of the author from
New and Selected Poems (W.W. Norton & Co., 2024).
About the Organisations
The following hospitals and centres will participate in Menu of Poems 2026:
Dublin and South East
MISA Creative Life at St. James’s Hospital
St Luke’s Radiation Oncology Network, Dublin;
St. Vincent’s University Hospital,
Tallaght University Hospital Arts Programme;
Children’s Health Ireland incorporating CHI Crumlin, CHI Connolly, CHI Temple Street, CHI Tallaght
Waterford University Hospital
Cork Kerry
Arts for Health Partnership programme, West Cork
Cahirciveen Community Hospital
Fermoy Community Hospital
Heather House Community Nursing Unit
Macroom Community Hospital
Saint Finbarr’s Hospital, Cork
West Kerry Community Hospital
St. Joseph’s Unit, Bantry
West Cork Community Hospital,
Farranlea Community Nursing Unit
Castletownbere Community Hospital,
Dunmanway Community Hospital
Schull Community Hospital
Skibberrreen Community Hospital
Listowel Community Hospital
Clonakilty Community Hospital
Kildare
Naas General Hospital
Kildare County Council Arts and Wellbeing Programme
West North West
University Hospital Galway
Merlin Park University Hospital
Portiuncula University Hospital, Ballinasloe
Roscommon University Hospital
Mayo University Hospital, Castlebar
Sligo University Hospital,
Letterkenny University Hospital
Midwest
University Hospital Limerick
St. John’s Hospital
University Maternity Hospital
Ennis Hospital
Nenagh Hospital
Croom Orthopaedic Hospital
Anne Tannam is the author of four poetry collections, the latest, ‘dismantle’, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2024. Anne was Poet in Residence with Poetry Ireland from 2023 to 2025. For more on Anne’s poetry, visit www.annetannampoetry.ie
Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland is an all-Ireland support network of professionals who are responsible for managing arts and health initiatives. Formed in 2003, AHCI aims to build capacity and maximise resources for its membership, who work in the Arts and Health Sector throughout Ireland, North and South. The network members co-ordinate a range of arts and health activities, including environmental enhancement, visual art, sculpture, performance, participatory and collaborative arts practice, professional development for artists and staff, artist residencies, health promotion and arts and health research.
Saolta Arts runs the West of Ireland’s leading Arts and Health programme as a means of promoting wellbeing and improving the hospital experience for patients, staff and visitors. Our multi-disciplinary programme of events and activities includes exhibitions, music, theatre, poetry and public art to improve the physical environment for everyone. Supported by professional artists, our participative arts workshops allow people of all ages to explore their creative potential. Initiated in 2003 and working as Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust in Galway’s public hospitals for ten years, we relaunched as Saolta Arts in 2019. Saolta Arts is a registered charity with the Charities Regulator (No. 20067915).
For media information please contact:
Margaret Flannery