Bridges
Bridges was written and published to celebrate the Leadership Programme of the Institute of Public Health in Ireland. Gillie Bolton was the reflective practice consultant to the programme.
It was written about a walk with Linda Garbutt following a 6 session course in Reflective Practice for Counsellors and Therapists in Durham. Linda is visually impaired.
Linda completed the circle of the poem, with her own.
Bridges
Her hand on my arm
so I can be eyes for us both
on the stony path by the river,
she stops, look at the arch
of the old bridge and its reflection.
I can't see it, but can you?The reflection wavers as a duck passes;
stone arch, and reflected arch together
make a perfect circle.We've written together, shared pools
of deep thought, mirroring our lives
yet different: the one reflecting the other
touching, feeling, tasting, listening,
seeing beyond sight.
Gillie Bolton
In Reflective Leadership: Leadership for Building a Healthy Society , The Institute of Public Health in Ireland , Eds: Sean Denyer, Leslie Boydell, Jane Wilde, Una Hearne.
Completing the Circle
A season ago we shared
a moment that captured our lives
meeting, crossing and leaving;
the circle so perfect in stone and water
would soon break
we parted on another bridge
returning home, to live separate lives.even when the reflection is not visible, in shade or dark
the possibility of rejoining the circle is ever present
and vision is more than sight.
as our sharing of thoughts, ideas, experiences and feeling
continues.Linda Garbutt
Postscript from Linda:
I think that to include this piece of work is a good example of how the reflective writing process emerges, in terms of directly from experience and writing in this specific way. Before participating in the workshop I had never written in this form. I have now started writing poems on a more or less day to day basis.
- Edited on 31/10/2011 at 12:12
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