Poems from our young Poet Laureates on National Writing Day
To celebrate National Writing Day this year (Thursday 23rd June) our Participation and Engagement Officer, Olivia Doherty, ran a short course using a workshop guide from Arvon Foundation‘s learning resources. This workshop was delivered by writer, Andy Craven-Griffiths. They all had fun remembering a sunny day in our lives and practicing poetry writing.
Our Poet Laureate Programme that we are running in conjunction with the Royal Literary Fund and Avon Foundation supports young people to delve into memories and experiences using expressive writing techniques. As part of this project, young people are able to safely explore their feelings within the container of a poem, giving them a sense of control and agency over the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others.
This National Writing Day, we are proud to share the following poems which follow the themes: ‘Remembering a Sunny Day’, and ‘I am a poem.’
Poems for National Writing Day from our Poet Laureates
Remembering that day, closing my eyes.
I’m back there, underneath the tree.
The wind swaying the branches, flowers smelling.
We walk together- like two peas in a pod;
hearing people talking,
the unnoticed bug crawling up my arm,
hearing others nearby.
Her noticing it, us laughing.
Even now I laugh about that;
the joyful, bubbly, funny, energetic,
angelic, beautiful, friendly face.
Anticipating, seeing her again.
A poem by R.
Alone on a bench:
wind like earth’s breath,
the swaying of trees,
still defying death
the sound of my steps,
the beat of my heart
the smile on my face – I see they’re not far.
The talking and laughing continued for hours.
The sounds of our voices, as we walk past flowers.
The sound of the café, as we go to get our seats.
The sound of the music, the melody the beat.
Sad smiles, as we say goodbye –
only to message again that night.
A poem by A.
I remembered that day when –
The chatter of everyone was ear-piercingly loud.
As we lined up outside,
As I walked down the stairs – air danced around me,
The smell was unusual: I was in a different place
The trees swayed as we did different activities.
A poem by B.
One hot sunny day I remember traveling down in the car
I saw funny misshaped clouds like cotton candy
We arrived; I was ecstatic.
I ran up, hugged her,
my hands slipping on her silk shirt.
It was burning hot outside.
As I ran along, I remember smelling a mouth-watering barbecue.
We sat talked, ran, played, laughed –
until our stomachs hurt – like we’ve eaten loads.
Oh, what a day.
A poem by K.
The warmth of the sun,
kissed and tanned.
Soft white sand goes in and out,
leaves seashells behind.
Ripple of the water,
waves collide –
musical notes,
sailboats, rocks, sand, shells – collide.
A poem by R.
Sound of summer tractors, silage trailers
bouncing, clanging, banging down the road.
The van was hot and smelling of camping gas.
Drunkenly piled in the front – our instruments lie,
in between, in a tiny space, the dog stares,
we laugh at the night we had before.
Your skin is coffee cream, your big hands are in mine,
your eyes are singing – I’m dancing inside.
We open the map – you showed me where we are –
out the side window, freshly cut fields
stretched for miles, held by stone walls.
This was a great place to park.
A poem by O.
I Am a Poem
The image below is a collage of a poem created by our young Poet Laureates with the theme ‘I Am a Poem.’ We’d like to encourage you to cast your eyes on this creative piece of literature from our talented young people.
Our next project will be beginning to explore visual and concrete poems – making poems out of accidental and found text, using the space around the story to help tell the story, bring it to life, or comfort and hold it.