A series of three cabaret-style events taking place in the Forum at Wellcome Collection promoting connections between poetry and the medical sciences, providing a platform for new poets, and attracting new audiences to poetry. The title of the series comes from a Kenyan folk tale where a rich man’s wife wasted away despite having every material need satisfied while a poor man’s wife prospered because he fed her “the meat of the tongue” by reciting poems, telling stories and singing songs. These events take place on the second Thursday of the month; 13 March, 10 April and 8 May from 19.00 – 20.30

Thursday 10 April
Theme:The Eye
Poetry about the eye and how sight and blindness affects human lives and meanings, featuring:
• U.A. Fanthorpe – A very distinguished and popular poet. Working as a secretary in a neuropsychiatric hospital inspired her first few collections, and her poetry continues to examine hospitals, doctors and patients.
• Tobias Hill – a fine contemporary poet who has previously been commissioned by Wellcome Trust to write a short story
• Joanne Limburg – A warm and witty poet, who has an MA in Pyschoanalytic studies. She often writes about the body, and the mind’s effect on it.