Andrew PinnockTomorrow
will be the
day we seek
To dry all the tears we weep
Tomorrow
will bring a song to sing
Tomorrow
will bring a smile to keep
Tomorrow
will be the day we hope
To find strength as
we try to cope
-Andrew Pinnock, 2002
Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
SECURITY GUARD Andrew Pinnock is fast developing a reputation as the resident grief therapist/poet of the Tony Thwaites Wing of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), Mona, St. Andrew.
Pinnock pens poetry for bed-ridden patients and grief-
stricken relatives whose lives have been touched by the
grim spectre of death. His explanation is simple: He hopes that his poems will help to cushion the grief for these families.
"There is nothing you can say to a person who has lost a loved one really," said the soft-spoken 38-year-old security guard.
"Nothing can cheer you up when you have had an experience where someone you love is dying, but sometimes a physical picture or a poem will excite the curiosity of and distract a person momentarily from their grief to let them know that life still goes on," Mr. Pinnock said.
Last year he was sufficiently moved to write his first piece of 'personalised coping poetry' when a patient on the ward was dying from a particularly virile strain of cancer.
"The relatives, especially the daughter, were crying a lot. I am easily moved by the emotions of others so I felt like I was sharing their pain," he said.
"I came up with a few lines of poetry to comfort them and the daughter was so impressed that she wrote me and Guardsman (the company he works for) a great thank you letter."
Pinnock's smile is automatic and he has a slow, sure way
of speaking, giving the impression that he chooses his words carefully. Still, he says a lot with only a few words. He
immediately puts you at ease with his relaxed body language and genuine concern for your well being.
"He is always very helpful, you can call on him when we need an extra hand or we need to move something, even though it is not a part of his job description. He is very courteous and willing to assist, so the patients respond very well to him," said UHWI nurse Sister Yvonne Grey who works closely with Pinnock on the Tony Thwaites Wing.
"Hospital wards are sometimes a depressing place but a person like Andrew makes the job seem a little lighter."
Pinnock seems like a throwback to a kindlier, gentler Jamaica. Once you have met him, you find yourself asking the inevitable question: 'dem people ya still exist?'
The way he sees it, "people are no longer conscious of the little things happening around them. They don't see the beauty of the world, so caught up they are in acquiring the necessities of life, and the pressure to keep them. They are so preoccupied, they fail to recognise the little things around them, they don't even realise another person's existence or status sometimes," he explains.
Although he is a bit reticent, Hallmark has nothing on this father of two whose rhyming schemes are simple but stylish. In some cases his attention to detail is striking, and his spirituality -- although he is no Christian -- shines through.
A graduate of Trench Town High School, in Kingston, Pinnock began penning poetry during his teenage years. He writes in his leisure time, and during his 45-minute lunch breaks.
"I like doing it, especially when I write a few lines of poetry that can change the quality of someone else's day."
Jamaicans are sometimes skittish, feisty people so Pinnock has worked out the process of approaching people with his writings to a near science.
"You cannot just see a person and give them a piece of paper with a poem on it. I actually become a part of the grief, I share their pain and their grief, and most times the family opens up because it is unusual for a stranger to share an experience that they are going through," he said.
"What I do is wait for the right moment to say to them that I have something for you to remember us by, because we share in your loss."
Pinnock harbours no ambition of one day publishing his material in a book. "What I do is not for my own sake, but to comfort others," he explained.
