Bypass Pilgrim

Diagnosed with heart disease at age 48, Roy Bayfield embarked on a ‘patient journey’ involving major surgery and a lengthy recovery. Written during the various stages of this unsettling adventure, his poetry reveals the joys and terrors of an encounter with the ‘frontier of bodies and time’. “These in-depth meditations on our physical and emotional vulnerability simply held me in awe...A wonderful mid-life-affirming book” – André Stitt, Professor of Performance and Interdisciplinary Art at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff “A touching and darkly funny insight into a man facing open heart surgery with courage, insight and poetic waspishness” – Roy Smiles, author, Year of the Rat, Kurt & Sid "Will be invaluable to nurses and other professionals who work with patients with similar conditions” – Chris Jones, editor, Issues in Heart Failure Nursing