The motivation behind this anthology is to create a collection of poems and reflections which serve as a gift for people in hospital, and for their loved ones and staff who may be supporting them during the anxieties of illness. The anthology is also intended for aged care residents whose wellbeing may also benefit from creative connection. Australian poets, both experienced and emerging, were invited to contribute one of their own poems as well as a short personal reflection for the reader about why they have chosen that particular poem and what they hope the reader experiences reading the poem. At the centre of this project is the idea of words as a gift from writer to reader where a poem serves as a space of solace, solidarity or possibly an encounter with joy or uplifting epiphany.

‘Perhaps one of poetry’s most significant benefits and gifts to us is community, that sense we are all connected with each other in our joys and sufferings, the fellowship of human feeling.

One of poetry’s chief purposes is to draw people together. It has always been a means for communicating stories, beliefs, customs, and values of a people. In moments of crisis, we turn to poetry because it has that unique ability to express and formalise emotion, to bring something of ourselves into being.’ - Judith Beveridge