Chris Johnstone is a retired GP from Paisley, and former editor of the RCGP’s journal in Scotland ‘hoolet.’ He has an interest in mega-practices and keeping the NHS publicBlair Smith was a GP for twenty years before he became a professor and then a consultant in pain medicine. This lovely book reflects all these aspects of his career as well as his own personal cancer experience.
The book is broken into six sections and includes poems, pictures and prose all tying together into a beautiful expression of life and personal history. His sense of his own physical frailty bound to solidity of the countryside around him is very powerful and the poems in the ‘Land’ section express this with a gentle strength.
One’s idea of illness as a doctor can be radically changed by experiencing disease in oneself.
He is particularly taken by a sense of his own family’s history as shown by the evocative illustration of five signatures of five Blair Smiths over five generations. The poems that follow in the ‘Fathers’ section allow to him to pay homage to his love and respect for his father and forebears and what inspires him to this day. This sense of continuity and love is encapsulated in the short poem at the end which passes the mantle on to his own children.
One’s idea of illness as a doctor can be radically changed by experiencing disease in oneself. He powerfully expresses his feelings of helplessness and pain during his own illness and provides useful insights for helping others. This is enhanced by his appreciation of his own life, nature and the healing power of long, caring relationships.
I loved his short prose piece ‘Replacement’ about apparent failure and what makes someone successful. This piece about a ‘loser’ saving many lives is truly life-enhancing.
His poem A Prayer At Breakfast is a cry for a break from the relentless negativity of the news cycle and prays for an ‘ordinary day’. This book is an antidote to all that negativity and will not just deliver an ordinary day, but an extraordinary delight.
No Replacement
“Family Gathering.” This year, though,
a chair is empty, at the table’s head,
only his daunting shoes below.
“Try them on,” she told me.
They are not snug, but I’ll wear them.
“It is good to be here at this long table,
where I am no replacement, just next on the circumference,
where I’ll sit until another…
‘No Replacement’ (Credit: Words by Blair Smith and design by Emma Rankin.)
Featured Book: Stranger Within: Poems & Prose by Blair Smith, Lumphanan Press, ISBN 978-1-3999-8458-4, £10 https://lumphananpress.co.uk/product/stranger-within-poems-prose-by-blair-h-smith/
Featured Photo by martin bennie on Unsplash
