Nature poetry by members of the Hub City Writers Project adorns the walls in 34 treatment rooms in the new $55 million Spartanburg Regional Emergency Center.

In a unique partnership between the hospital and Hub City, ten Spartanburg poets contributed work that is displayed against the backdrop of nature photographs and framed, one to each room.

“In building this Emergency Center it was not only important for us to design the right kind of building, but also the right kind of healing environment for patients and their families,” said Ingo Angermeier, president of Spartanburg Regional Health System.

At the opening ceremony attended by more than 200 people in September, Tom Johnson was invited to read his poem, “The Myrtle Trees.” Other poets whose work was included in this project were: Philip Belcher, Marcel Gauthier, Aly Goodwin, Angela Kelly, John Lane, Rick Mulkey, Fred Parrish, Alex Richardson, and Deno Trakas.

Their poems are superimposed over photographs by Mike Corbin, the Spartanburg photojournalist who produced Hub City’s sixth book, Family Trees: The Peach Culture of the Piedmont. Corbin spent 18 months shooting the images that line the walls thoughout the new ER facility. Hub City designer Mark Olencki designed and created the large framed prints. Sally Hammond coordinated the project from the hospital’s side.

Hub City hopes you don’t end up in the emergency room, but if you do, enjoy the poetry.

Left to right in the photo above: Tom Johnson. Aly Goodwinn, Angela Kelly, Alex Richardson, Marcel Gauthier and Betsy Teter at the opening of the SRMC Emergency Center.