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Moving towards Co-Inquiry through Sharing Poetry in the
Classroom
Ageism
Old lady 80 years or more
Alone and still with this open sore
She shifts about just a tiny bit
Her tired skin rubs sheets that don‘t quite fit
The nurses say she‘s not in pain
The student says look how she‘s lain
Who makes the time to sit and listen?
Or notice the beads of sweat that glisten
Look at the doctor, a tired man
Ask him what‘s the care plan?
Just a bed blocker left to die
Frustration makes the student cry
Old lady in the hard ward bed
Her life story now left unsaid
Her leg wound open to the air
Hospital staff, do you really care?
Clare Hopkinson 13/10/04
I wrote ‗Ageism‘ above and ‗The Wounded Nurse‘ below, in response to
the emotional intensity of two separate sessions with two different work-
based learning groups at the university. Two students told stories of their
ward experience which had a powerful effect on me and would not leave
my thoughts until I reprocessed them as poems. At the next session, a
fortnight later, I gave the two students a copy of the poems, and was
asked to read them to the rest of the group. This was the first time I had
ever shared any poetry with anyone not even my family members. So
sharing the poems happened accidentally. Both students had voiced their
frustrations, anger and tears during their work-based learning session.
After I had read the poems the students talked about the conflict of giving
time to patients even when they suspected the patient may need to talk.
Further stories were told about the challenging nature of nursing work. I
could see a shift during this session which I believe had come about
through sharing the poems. The students were not justifying their practice
but were starting to raise powerful questions about it and the values
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