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The Hospital

 

Two fractured bones, major surgery, large doses of morphine and a lack of common sense in the healthcare system are just some of the things which led to Ben picking up a pencil and writing a dossier of over 100 poems on the back of medical charts, prescriptions, leaflets and toilet paper

The book that emerged, The Hospital, is many things: a scrapbook of desperation; a shocking account of life on our perilous wards; a legalised-drug diary; and ultimately, a political statement.
The original manuscript was first published on this website in 2004. It has continued to be a work in progress, with Ben editing and rewriting the collection

Britain's best independent arts magazine Open Wide recently published an 'online chapbook' previewing extracts from the book

 

The Hospital will be published in 2008 by Roundeye Books in a limited pressing of 100 hardbacks, each numbered and signed by the author. 'Orlock' linocuts by Mark Vanstone

 

 

 

CLICK HERE to read the Open Wide Magazine Online Chapbook - Poems from The Hospital

 

CLICK HERE to visit Roundeye Books