BPA | The Poetic Mind Seminar - “Bridging Time 1944-2024 Letters to My Father”

The Poetic Mind Seminar

Bridging Time 1944-2024 Letters to My Father

By Patricia Townsend

Discussant David Black
Chair David Morgan

Monday 14th September 2026
8-9.30pm
Online only

This book is an artist-writer’s epistolary memoir, built from her father’s Second World War letters.

Patricia Townsend is a London-based artist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist who inherited a bundle of fifty letters written by her father, Sam Townsend of the Royal Engineers, beginning in July 1944. Through researching his wartime experiences and retracing the route taken by his unit, she created a dialogue with the past by responding to his letters in the form of sonnets. From this process emerged both a book and an exhibition that weave together historical record, poetic reflection, and artistic exploration.

Biography

Patricia Townsend is a writer and visual artist working with photography, moving image, installation, and poetry. Her work is held in the collections of the British Academy and Abbot Hall Gallery. She holds a PhD from the Slade School of Fine Art. Under the name Patrica Marsden she also practises as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist.

David Black is a psychoanalyst and poet. He is author of six collections of poetry and Emergency Kit (Faber), Wild Reckoning(Calouste Gulbenkian), Twentieth Century Scottish Poetry (Faber) and many other anthologies. As a psychoanalyst he has published many professional papers, an edited volume on psychoanalysis and religion, and a collection of essays relating to values and science.

David Morgan is co-chair with Louise Hayman of Poetic Mind. Psychoanalyst and Fellow of BPAS. Training Analyst BPA.

The Poetic Mind Seminar

A series centered on the intersection of poetry and psychoanalysis can explore how both disciplines utilise language to navigate the complexities of human experience.

Future topics

Metaphor and Meaning: Examining how metaphors function in both poetry and therapeutic dialogue to reveal unconscious content.

The Poetics of Therapy: Investigating the role of narrative and in psychoanalytic practice.

Language and Healing: Exploring how the expressive qualities of language in poetry can inform therapeutic techniques aimed at emotional processing and integration.

By delving into these areas, we could illuminate the rich, symbiotic relationship between poetic expression and psychoanalytic exploration, offering deeper insights into the human condition through the lens of language.

Image: The cupola above the stage in the Wigmore Hall, incorporating the painting 'The Soul of Music' by Gerald Moira.  Reproduced thanks to Historic England.
The opinions and views expressed are entirely those of the speaker in a personal capacity and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the BPA.
Refunds available up to 10 days before the event start date.