About Us

The Poetry Society, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2H 9BX

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© The Poetry Society, 2023

About the Project

About Us is one of ten commissions for UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK. The project explores the infinite ways we are connected to the universe, the natural world and one another.

A major live show toured the UK in 2022, visiting Paisley in Scotland, Derry-Londonderry in Northern Ireland, Caernarfon in Wales, and Luton, Hull and London in England. The show combined cutting-edge projectionmapping technology, poetry and music to tell our shared story from the Big Bang to the present day. Local choirs performed a new score by Nitin Sawhney, and poets from across the UK were commissioned to write the show’s narrative.

The show was supported by an extensive learning and participation programme. A competition invited poets and coders aged 4–18 to respond to the theme of ‘connectivity and the universe’ in the form of a poem or a Scratch animation. Selected entries were featured in the live shows. Primary schools in each of the towns and cities on the tour received poetry and coding workshops: the children’s creative work was featured in the show, shaping each of the performances to the context in which it was delivered.

Watch the evening show at bit.ly/AboutUsUnboxed

Watch the children’s videos at bit.ly/AboutUsSchoolPoems

Discover learning resources at resources.poetrysociety.org.uk/about-us

About the Partners

59 Productions is an award-winning design studio and production company that specialises in story-driven design. Renowned for creating the breath-taking video design for the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, 59 Productions creates spectacular public artworks, projection-mapping some of the world’s most iconic buildings. 59productions.co.uk

Stemettes is an award-winning social enterprise working across the UK & Ireland and beyond to inspire and support young women and young nonbinary people into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths careers known collectively as STEM. stemettes.org

The Poetry Society is the UK’s leading organisation for poetry. With innovative education and commissioning programmes, and a packed calendar of performances and readings, The Poetry Society champions poetry for all ages. The Poetry Society is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. poetrysociety.org.uk

About UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK was a celebration of creativity that took place across the UK in 2022. It featured free large-scale events, installations, and globally accessible digital experiences in the UK’s most ambitious showcase of creative collaboration.

Produced by some of the brightest minds in science, technology, engineering, arts and maths, UNBOXED presented ten major multi-site and digital creative projects that shared new ideas and possibilities for the future.

Events and activities took place between March and November in towns, cities and the countryside, from the Outer Hebrides to Southampton, Swansea to Omagh, across traditional and online media.

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK worked in schools and communities, developing skills and giving the people of the UK the opportunity to be co-creators in the ground-breaking work. It was funded and supported by the four governments of the UK and commissioned and delivered in partnership with Belfast City Council, Creative Wales and EventScotland.

Introduction

We travel light; we’re light that’s yet to travel.

– Llŷr Gwyn Lewis, ‘Remnants’

Look up. This is the exhortation at the heart of About Us, a spectacular multimedia show and learning and participation programme commissioned by UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK. Visiting Paisley, DerryLondonderry, Caernarfon, Luton, Hull and London, About Us combined projection-mapped animation, music and poetry to tell our shared story from the Big Bang to the present day.

The project began life in the depths of a Covid-19 lockdown and the intention behind it was simple: to create a cultural event that would inspire a renewed sense of wonder and hope. At its core was the idea that we are all made of stardust: look up at the night sky, the project suggests, and know that you and everyone with whom you share this space began life in a distant star. In other words, we come from the same place, the same past. So, too, is our future a shared one.

This sense of connection has driven every aspect of About Us. The project brought together a team of artists and scientists in a cross-disciplinary collaboration. The Poetry Society worked with video design company 59 Productions and social enterprise Stemettes.

Over the course of the project, thousands of poems have been written exploring how the universe is connected, from commissions that appeared in the show to educational resources for schools, from poems written by young poets in schools and community groups to those entered into a poetry and coding competition.

This anthology showcases a selection of these poems. The poets represented range from T. S. Eliot Prizewinning Jen Hadfield to five-year-old Charlotte Gage, who is just at the start of her poetic journey. There are voices from across the UK and further afield, poems in English, Welsh and Gaeilge, included here in their original language, poems that incorporate Scots and Shetland dialect, a poem in British Sign Language.

Commissioned poems by Llŷr Gwyn Lewis, Jen Hadfield, Jason Allen-Paisant, Khairani Barokka, Stephen Sexton and Grug Muse illustrate the trajectory of the show, transporting us from the birth of the universe to the digital age. As well as interacting with these poems in the anthology, readers can situate them in the context of the live light show by watching the film at bit.ly/AboutUsUnboxed. These different experiences of the commissioned poems – whether it’s the quiet pleasure of the page or the sensory overload of poetry brought to life with beautiful animation and a swelling choral soundtrack – offer parallel insights into a key takeaway of About Us: that poetry is alive, it is dynamic, it moves as

we do through time and space, it reflects us back at ourselves.

Connection is once again a common theme in the poems commissioned for educational resources. Sairah Ahsan, Jack Cooper, Áine Ní Ghlinn, John Hegley, Cheryl Moskowitz, Caleb Parkin (collaborating with Jane Hills and Isla Keesje Davidson) and Dan Simpson have created a series of playful and curiositydriven poems designed for use in schools. Covering topics like DNA, symbiosis, deforestation, astronomy and more, these poems and accompanying learning resources are freely available for use in the classroom. In addition, teachers in secondary schools can access video interviews with some of the commissioned poets, which are designed to complement this anthology and explore ways of approaching poetry at GCSE.

For further inspiration, look to the poems written by young people themselves. A competition for young poets and coders aged 4-18 saw over 1,800 entries from across the UK and eighteen countries internationally. A team of judges, including Simon Armitage, Kathleen Jamie, Ifor ap Glyn, Stephen Sexton and Keith Jarrett, selected the best entries. The winners, whose poems are collected here, come from all corners of the UK – from Devon to Edinburgh, from the Isle of Wight to Ceredigion, from Belfast to Yorkshire – as well as overseas, from Pakistan and Australia. Writing on the theme of how the universe is connected, these young writers represent a diversity of voices that nonetheless

share a common tone of wonder and an ability to pinpoint the individual within the cosmos.

Winning poems by Elsie Hayward, April Egan, Jasmine Haynes, Freya Leech, Aashka Vardhman and Faith Lydall use space as a means to explore what makes us human. Jhermayne Ubalde, Neda Aryan, Filippo Rossi, Etta O’Flaherty Jones, Missy Ashiru and Dillon Watt take us on a journey through deep time, interrogating not only where we came from but what we will leave behind. Varad Toke, Martha Blue, Meredydd Davies, Leonie Hanan, Logan Smith, and Florence Hall focus on our relationship with the natural world and the responsibility we have towards it. And poems by Kaila Patterson, Laiba Yousuf, Awyr and Charlotte Gage embody the tenderness of human-to-human connection.

Theirs are by no means the only young voices included in this anthology. It was our privilege to work in schools in each of the locations where the live show took place. Poets delivered workshops on the theme of connection, working with forty-six schools and three community groups, most of which appear in this anthology.

When we sent poets into schools, the brief was simple: the children should create a collaborative class poem about how we are connected. The scale and themes of the project could have been daunting – a recurring joke was that we were condensing 13.8 billion

years into the space of 25 minutes – but, as is often the case, the poems found their groove by responding with specifics. Yes, we were thinking about the whole universe but we were also, and importantly, thinking about Paisley, Derry, Caernarfon, Luton and Hull. We were thinking about the local park, about Irn Bru and Derry Girls, about pet hamsters, cousin Shea, dad’s laugh, about seagulls, about the view from the school playground.

In this respect, the poems collected here encapsulate the significance of the project’s title. About Us not only gestures towards the whole universe around and about us, but it has also been an invitation to everyone who has taken part to show us what matters to them, what is special about their home town, what their community looks like.

We are so grateful to everyone who took part for their generosity in sharing that with us. With this anthology, we hope others, too, will be inspired by the poems created for About Us. Thank you to UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK; thank you to 59 Productions and Stemettes; thank you to all the stakeholders, local councils, community leaders and translators; thank you to all the poets.

‘Lightly is the language’, Stephen Sexton tells us in his commissioned poem. It is fitting that so many of the poems in this anthology take light as a recurring motif – collectively, they capture that peculiar ability poetry

has to behave as light does, travelling, shimmering, signalling from me to you.

When we say goodnight –from my dark room to yours, yours to mine –we speak as stars do, with light.

– Stephen

Sexton, ‘Lightly Is the Language’

Poems Commissioned for the About Us Show

These poems were commissioned from poets

Llŷr Gwyn Lewis, Jen Hadfield, Jason Allen-Paisant, Khairani Barokka, Stephen Sexton and Grug Muse. They appeared in a live multimedia show that toured the UK in 2022. You can watch the show at bit.ly/AboutUsUnboxed

Llyˆr Gwyn Lewis

Remnants

Can you hear the jangling of the universe walking along, the silver coins of the stars in its back pocket? Alloy of atoms forged in the fierce dark, denominations of night. And next

to them, we’re dust and lint, anti-matter, shrapnel, gravel where things used to be, towns that never amassed into much, ports and airports to get elsewhere through: loose change from the stars’ transactions.

But nothing is wasted: only remade by wax moon fingernails that scrape the bobbled fabric of space and time and gather us, ball us up. You’ll see: we’re a not-yet-ness, waiting for gravity. We travel light; we’re light that’s yet to travel.

So stop, look up, gaze at a sky that’s framed by towers, gleaming slates, the hands we hold to steady each other on this ground, and hear the heart’s potential energy when, spinning, dizzy, we glimpse what we are reflected in a distant star.

Llyˆr Gwyn Lewis

Gwarged

Glywi di dincial y bydysawd uwchben ar dramp drwy ehangder yr hwyr

a’r sêr yn llosgi’n wynias yn ei boced din? Y cyfoeth a fathwyd yn ffwrnes ffyrnig y nos: arian cyfred y cosmos, a’u twrw’n cyfri.

Nesa at rhain, does fater amdanom ni: ’mond llwch a naddion, graean, gweddillion hen fydoedd a’u trafodion; trefi na ddaeth rhyw lawer ohonynt ac nad eith neb drwyddynt mwyach ond i le arall: newid mân o ymwneud mawr y sêr.

Ond ’dan ni’n dal i gyfri, yng ngenau’r sach, ac o geiniog i geiniog gynnil cawn hel, yn dawel, ynghyd, i grynhoi’n goronau aur a’n golud, a’n golau, ar gyrraedd o ddyfnder nos.

Arhoswn yma, felly, ar y maes, daliwn ddwylo’n gilydd ar hyn o dir a gwrando egni potensial y galon. Chwiliwn yn chwil uwch aber: sbïwn heibio i’r castell a’r toeau llechi i gael gweld pob mag a niwc a dima o drysorfa’r sêr yn llosgi’n wyn: yn llechu’n y llwch

hwnnw, mae ’na danau sy’n barod ynom.

Jen Hadfield

‘Struck by lightning Life is’

Struck by lightning Life is suddenly a salty little godmother beatboxing away on a submarine vent or in a freak intergalactic transmission Life is a shower of pollen, but –stars

*

Our bodies are stomping grounds for invisible Life, flocks and herds of bustling strangers working with us, working against us,

Life that Airbnbs with us, every tear a dewdrop of pondlife.

It lies on our skin, an invisible ochre we palm it off on everything we touch,

and there is no border, there is no boundary between me and this flesh mob this silent choir I am, we are –

Jason Allen-Paisant

In Tree the Primal Ocean

mushroom caps muzzle the ear of the wind

see how laterite runs down the rivulet of a crack

below the foliage my skin is dissolving

hyphae of body breathing in moss

in tree the primal ocean survives

wetness crawls into the soul at every turn

mycorrhiza skin

sap, lymph, blood the woods’ tireless breath

around me

I sleep in a citadel

of lianas mushroom caps muzzle

the ear of the wind see how laterite runs down

the rivulet of a crack I think I never walked before I never breathed before breathing did not exist like this

Khairani Barokka

late lingua

thousands of grammars coalesce as maps for telling the truth turn to branches, cling to extinction’s edge,

and each language a cosmology –in each, a universe of worlds.

in our kitchens, mouths feed from refrigerators humming with who buys what for the city

how we continue to catch and haul from peasants’ earth, indigenous rainforests funnelled into factories, sweatshops, mines.

we address our meals and imagine, attempt, a tracing back of lifelines, a return of vitality to places gouged.

to growing branches of language, an earth-caring hearth of cooling truths.

how to secure survival –continuance of breathing, the world a new cartography.

Stephen Sexton

Lightly Is the language

Like how this oak tree’s roots are sweet with phosphorus

skimmed from a supernova only all of time ago.

Were there enough, networks of rhizomes would glow phosphorescent in the soil. *

We’re there too, underground,

lit not by glowing roots but a jungle of fibre optics dazzle of data.

From star to tree thought to thumb to bright screen; subterranean cable, humming street cabinet, exchange –

our medium is light

packets disassembled and remade on bright screens, language no more massive than moonlight on your cheek.

When we say hello, thank you, I love you, we say it as light moving thought-quick through the underworld.

Dinosaurs and fossils, flora never gazed upon, fifty billion organisms in a handful of earth, our ancestors reconfigured.

When we say goodnight –from my dark room to yours,

yours to mine –we speak as stars do, with light.

Grug Muse

Gwaddodion

Roedd y garreg yma’n goedwig, unwaith.

Gwranda’n ddistaw bach, a falle clywi hi’n breuddwydio am yr adar yn ei gwallt.

Mae hi’n cofio ei hymgreigio, yn cofio cael ei chario gyda’r afon at y môr.

Gweld golau dydd yn ymbellhau wrth iddi suddo.

Ac mae’n cofio’r gwasgu, y pwysau mawr a’r amser maith yn ei throi’n beth oer a chaled. Y dechrau

colli nabod ar ei hun, yr anghofio beth oedd sŵn y glaw ac ogla’ gwynt. Teimlo’i hun yn syrthio’i gysgu,

nes un diwrnod, mae hi’n teimlo gwthio ar ei hasgwrn cefn. Yn araf, araf

mae’n codi nôl i’r wyneb

i fod yn dir dan draed

y torfeydd a’r ’sgwarnogod brith.

Ond mae’r môr o hyd llawn hiraeth.

Mae o’n dod bob dydd i lyfu bodiau’i thraed, i’w hawlio nôl fesul carreg fach

nes ei bod hi’n friwsion eto ar ei lan.

Un dydd, mae’n cael ei chanfod, yn llyfn a chrwn, a’i chodi i’w chynhesu mewn dwrn meddal, cyn cael ei thaflu nôl i’r môr.

Grug Muse

translated from the Welsh by clare. e. potter

Sediment

This stone was once a forest.

Listen in and you might hear her dream of birds still in her hair.

She remembers being enstoned, carried with the river to the sea. Watched, as she was sinking, the day’s light retreating.

And she remembers the pressing, the great weight of time turning her cold, immoveable. The beginning of self-forgetting, unable to recall the sound of rainfall and scent on breeze, feels herself dulled to sleep,

‘til one day she feels a push on her back bone. Slowly, slowly, she rises once more to the surface becoming land where herds and speckled hares tread.

But the sea longs for her. Returning daily, to kiss her feet to reclaim her piece by piece until she’s reduced to crumbs along the shore.

One day, she is discovered, smooth and round, held and warmed in a soft fist, before being thrown back to the sea.

Poems Commissioned for Education Resources

The following poems were commissioned with young audiences in mind from poets Sairah Ahsan, Jack Cooper, Áine Ní Ghlinn, Jen Hadfield, John Hegley, Cheryl Moskowitz, Caleb Parkin (collaborating with Jane Hills and Isla Keesje Davidson) and Dan Simpson. Accompanying learning resources and lesson plans are freely available to teachers at bit.ly/AboutUsResources

Sairah Ahsan

DNA

There is a place where it is spelt, how teeth might talk how eyes might see, in a language of A, T, C and G it is written well. And this library of the body is held in the spiral staircase in the slime of the cell.

This machine spins, builds blobs and bits, in jelly it writes from the dictionary of You! It writes Two and then Two bubbles in a bubble, each build double spiral staircases in the slime of the cell.

Its growing eyes, and moulds, and toes, it encodes, it ages, it ends age and erodes the data data data in bits held in the spiral staircase in the slime of the cell.

Jack Cooper

Micrographia, 1665

Robert Hooke – on observing the rigid, repeating pores in a piece of cork

laid out like a lattice of hollow bricks under the lens of his hand-made microscope –christened them cells, thinking of the minute rooms monastics would seal themselves in, or a microscopic prison petrified beneath his gaze.

But if he had seen living tissue, cells dancing along a Petri dish like water droplets in a frying pan, what would he have named them?

Comets. Quicksilver.

Self-slung slingstones.

How would the first human in history to see the building blocks of a body think of his own?

Curiosity is a dividing cell; something that can’t help but make more of itself.

Áine Ní Ghlinn

Sochraid na gCrann

Bhí ainmhithe na coille ann

Ioraí glasa is ioraí rua

Dhá bhroc ag siúl chun tosaigh

I léinte bána is cótaí dubha

Bhí sionnaigh is giorriacha

Ag máirseáil leo go ciúin

Cór na n-éan gan ghíog as Go hard os cionn an tslua

Lonta dubha agus ulchabháin

Ina ngarda onóra ar gach taobh

Iad ina seasamh ar an talamh

Mar go raibh an choill gan chraobh

A neadacha ina ngob

Ag gach éan dubh is donn

Préachán, spideog is dreoilín

Ag leanúint sochraid na gcrann

An choill ar fad faoi bhrónGach éan, gach ainmhí

Ag caoineadh leo go ciúin

Le brón is briseadh croí

Iad ag leanúint na leoraithe

Ina bhfuil corpáin na gcrann

An tsochraid is mó agus is brónaí

Dá raibh riamh ann

Jen Hadfield

Plankton

Is this gentleness –is this lightsomeness –is this sense of this ease a thing imagined? Is this clemency –is this wait and see –is this anytime –this creel sinking down through a clear sea –

is this peeriewise –are these tender lights –is this unlocked door, these loosely clutching drooie-lines –is this lack of guile –is this ower weel –is this back o twal –

this wishful thinking meaning well –

is this rule of thumb –hit’ll aa come in time –although the evidence would have me thinking otherwise –is this champagne bloom –this transparent room –this grace this ease by heart by eye expendable in your sight?

John Hegley

Letter from a Gribble

Author’s note: The gribble, the ocean-dwelling gribble, an animal something like a shrimp, the size of a pimple. Anything that’s woody, for a gribble is a goody which it will gobble up and break down once it’s swallowed. The gribble’s way of digesting may help to teach us about a way of taking energy from wood, without burning it and making Mother Earth worry or frown – an up-side to the gribble’s nobbling gobble-down.

Dear Sailor

just a quick note to say that I am sorry I ate some of your boat but, I am a small and simple creature whose main feature is that I have to consume any kind of wood at all that is near me. Boat, or no boat. This is the bad news but there is also some news that is good because, the special way I digest the wood may help scientists in the lab to find a fabulous new type of ecological fuel by copying my biological goings on.

I am sorry that some of your boat has gone. I am not doing the chewing to be cruel and I hope you can read my scribble with gratitude for the nibble, Gribble.

Cheryl Moskowitz

Roll up, roll up!

The night sky is a magic act, Here, then gone. ‘What we see, we see And seeing is changing.’1

In 13.8 billion years, how much has already disappeared?

No thing can turn into nothing, It simply becomes something else. Do not be sad when a star dies…

Supernova, supernova, new worlds start from one that’s over

We are all time travellers now. When we look out to space from Earth What we see has already been.

Waves of light, waves of sound, oceans of time to reach the ground

Invisible doesn’t mean gone –Sometimes we only sense what’s there. Space is a vacuum (without air).

Hungry hole at the dead star’s core, keeps on swallowing more and more

All that matters is important And all that exists is matter,

The light and the dark together.

Ashes to ashes, the fire of stars - the dust they make, makes us what we are

Oh Universe, you take us past

The farthest reaches of our minds.

‘There’s magic in thy majesty!’2

To be Astronomer is to be Mathematician… Detective, Historian and Magician

1. Adrienne Rich, ‘Planetarium’, Collected Poems 1950-2012 (New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 2016), pp. 301-2.

2. William Shakespeare, ‘The Winter’s Tale’, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, ed. by Peter Alexander (London: Collins, 2006), V. 3. 39.

3. Galileo Galilei, ‘Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo’ [Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems], Le opere di Galileo Galilei, 8 vols (Firenze: Tipografia di G. Barbera, 1890-8), vii, p. 251.

‘Truths are easy to understand Once they are discovered; the point Is to discover them.’3 Presto!

Caleb Parkin, Jane Hills & Isla Keesje Davidson

We, The Reef

Two recorded Zoom conversations

I. Human / Coral

What makes you happy?

A day full of sunshine, cool waves. Not those hot, muggy, sea-salt-heavy days that take so much energy. Then, I don’t spend time with Algae and we don’t get on. I like to reach out, snack all day. What are you worried about?

The reef is too intense. Family ties we’ve had for 10,000 or millions of years are heated to their limits. We can’t live without each other but can’t face being together anymore.

How do you see your future? That

depends.

We, The Reef, are willing to make

II. Algae / Coral

Usually in our relationship I feel really held. Coral is my safe space. But lately, things have heated up, so I’ve been out the house more often. It’s too hot, too hot for me.

some changes: we’re dynamic, adaptable. If you would take one step forward, we could do the same. But when it takes 10,000 years, polyp to Coral, we need time: I like to take my time.

I don’t think it’s Coral’s fault, the wider situation

Algae, it’s really hard to hear you say I’m not there: I am still here, trying to protect you. I want to hold you lift you up to the light, to what you can become.

in the world has made things stressful and then I let out my toxins.

I know this is bigger than you, the way you lash out, but your reaction hurts. Pushing you out is the only way to survive that toxicity. It’s scary, the world making us lose

the very one we need when we’ve learned to grow through this world

and protect each other and celebrate each other

and they’re making you hate me me hate you

and that’s just cruel it’s cruel.

Dan Simpson

Together We Are Distant

Words create distance in your universe being not the thing itself but an abstraction of existence.

In this sense there is no such thing as love or anger or joy or a cat.

Stretch out into this concept claw at the threads here know that we are naming the ineffable and largely missing the litter tray.

How good are you at simultaneously holding two conflicting ideas in your head ?

You and I and the mundane miracle of our being here now, separated over time and space yet together in this poem: here I am and here you are I feel closer to you already through the distance of words.

Hello.

Inside you is another universe orbiting around the gravity-pull of your heart each beat of your centre a powerful ‘yes!’ oxygenating the solar system of your organs.

In the interstellar ballet of your body the dancers are swirling around one another their planetary routines and steadily measured steps grounding you in motion and meaning.

When our elemental bodies suffer it’s hard to remember that we are made from the same stuff as suns the starlight burning out as we diminish into darkness hoping not to pull the rest of the world in with us.

When we are burning in equilibrium or close enough the main sequence of our lives is manifest brightness from inside to out matter made energy expanding ourselves to each other giving energy to that which matters.

I see the universe you are recognise myself as the same and so – despite this distance of language and poetry –we are two contrasting ideas at once together, and apart, and I love you.

Winning Poems in the About Us Competition for Young Poets

These poems are the winning and highly commended poems in a competition for young poets aged 4–18, selected from over 1,800 entries. The winners were chosen by a team of judges, including Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Scotland’s Makar Kathleen Jamie, National Poet of Wales Ifor ap Glyn, and awardwinning poets Stephen Sexton and Keith Jarrett.

Elsie Hayward

Cassiopeia

I must confess to you on every still and inky night I have shut the car door, stood on the drive, head thrown back to smile romantically at the stars, I did not feel you. I joined your dots with my finger, formed the universal ‘w’, imagined I was slicing through light years of darkness, or maybe just a few inches of silk. I did not feel your broken heart beat, see your white knuckles clinging to your curse of a throne; hear you curse any and all of the gods. I did not know your fear of falling into a gaping mouth of darkness, light years of darkness, your bitter, freezing beauty, your cosmos-splitting pain. I did not feel your lonely heart beat, hear you whisper something about being a queen, having a daughter.

Jasmine Haynes

Voyager

A human touch, ambition’s scent, adventure’s lust unspoken. Firing boosters, blasting off, transmission has awoken.

Retreating blue of Earth’s lit curve, sending message home. Breaking from the sun’s strong field, in Milky Way alone.

An unseen force between each star, riding waves of light and sound. Galactic spirals pull and push, why spin both ways around?

The cosmic web warps space and time, confusing signals sent. Dark matter joined with stars and gas, by gravitational intent.

Far from home, black holes appear, the cannibals of light. Supernovae now explode, communication is a fight.

Limit reached, diagnostics failed, the universe, vast ocean. A human touch, frustration felt, connection lost and broken.

Varad Toke

The Fungi

The fungi have a network like the internet, formed in the ages. This funky network was a prehistoric blast. It was created here before humans were dumb pan-troglodytes, trying to live life. Mycelium was part of this –our modern day plants, too. Fungi were the cells that had a really big heart. Sharing is caring. That’s how fungi roll. Their epic network used for the good of others.

Freya Leech

The Universe’s Inbox

Voyager arrives in Junk Mail with a carefully placed advert about all the best on Earth. An invite to the galaxy catch-up pops in around two minutes before it starts.

Black hole spam may contain viruses and signals from Canopus have interfered with the Wi-Fi again. 4.5 billion emails from Earth –another mouthy space speck.

Supernovae flicker the signal once more. Nebulae send out commercials about star day care.

April Egan

July Baby

I like you Jodie, I like you very much.

I like that you’re a Leo, which makes you fixed fire, I like fixed fire, because fixed fire is the sun. I like that you’ve met every hero and been brighter, I like the little eternity you’ve shone on the earth, I like how long you have been so very beautiful and that still we are not done with songs for you. I like that when I see you, others are lit the same, I like that I know you new over and over and over, I like when you touch my hair, I like when you are near my skin. I like how your shining moment is eons-long, and we knew it all before houses and streets and beetles and trees and the newborn thrash of first fire.

I like how you take up my time and the colour from the ground and your place in the stars and somehow are silent in your magnificence. I like when you go, for I like when you return, and that we can always come back.

Meredydd Davies

Rhew

Eisteddwn yng nghynhesrwydd ein tân agored yn hudo ein hangen i fyw am heddiw.

Ein trwmgwsg ar y soffa swmpus eisoes ar gost carbon cenedlaethau ac yn dawel, yn ddiwyd, bu’r fflamau cynnes yn anwesu haenau o rew i ddŵr dwfn y môr.

Tician di-derfyn y cloc ben tân yn gwawdio ein difaterwch a throi

rhewfrig yn rhidylla ninnau’n ddall i’w ddirmyg.

Dihunwn yn nhywyllwch oer ein hystafell

â’r lludw llwyd yn mygu ein dyfodol.

Faith Lydall

My Feet Are Made of Stardust

My feet are made of stardust and I’ve danced with the stars, The moon was my dancefloor and my disco ball was Mars. I’ve chased meteors and comets – Big Dipper was my net, Orion was my best friend and Little Bear was my pet.

My eyes are made of stardust and I use them to explore, Majestic mountains, starlit skies, fields and forest floors. I see the smiles of family and friends, sharing joy and love, The laughter of creation shines like sunbeams from above.

My fingers are made of stardust to create and hold hands, They glitter as they plant a tree or write exciting plans. They were designed to help me care for the world around me, Picking up litter and helping to protect the sea.

We all are made of stardust and our atoms are the same, Though our skins have different colours and our countries, different names.

Poverty and war are wrong: it’s time to make things right, We are all connected – there is no good reason to fight.

Our feet are made of stardust, we can find a shining solution, To put an end to homelessness, racism and pollution. Our feet are made of stardust and we once danced together in space,

Let’s live and learn together now to make the world a better place.

Martha Blue

Kestrel

Like a trembling, fluttering leaf, its floating, flapping, flitting wings hovering above me, as I pace solid under these leaden skies, on root-deep peat-carved paths.

Drop down kestrel, feathers drop down too then rise with squirming, wriggling prey, hold tight within gripping beak, ale-brown blur, ancient hunter

dance in heavy clouds, hover, hovering, held by an invisible hand held high, held in an airy stillness, whilst I am caught, mesmerised,

my eyes held within the talons of this sky-soarer, dawn-breaker, cloud-tearer, wind-rider.

Filippo Rossi

Carbon-12

conceived at the back of time in the twilight of mystery deep within the womb of ancestral gods blue giants, primordial stars in itself a language

not the sort to be savoured and spun on the tongue, rather, a constellation of cycles uttering a rhythm, faint but unmistakable, pure, primal, quivering across its tribe of industrious atoms, a language breathed by soil, by each and every drop of rain that falls, echoed by the spaces that fill the sky, whispered by rocks asleep deep below, a language laughed and cried and lived by you, you terrestrial thing that lives

a vessel of meaning, a clause, adrift in cosmic syntax, unaware of itself and of the open poem of which it is a part

Neda Aryan

The Star Show

I saw gravity’s tender hand pull lost particles of dust and gas together at the start Seemingly inconsequential matter that would give birth to something beautiful I felt the first traces of heat caress my face as they were generated in the protostar’s heart

Could a simple change in temperature really sustain billions of lives yet to come?

I admired the vibrant hues the star took on… Yellow, orange and everything in between While listening to the chatter of humanity basking in its light

I will be here when a giant emerges, a shade of red desperate to be seen Devouring everything around it like a ferocious beast

I will remain when the star cools off, and mimics the shades of long-gone moons

A picture-perfect sight that, perhaps, faraway life could glimpse I will even remain when white lets black gradually engulf it

Like the lights at the end of a theatre show

I’ll be sad it’s over but happy I watched every bit of it – I’ll be happy I saw you Don’t ever think I wasn’t watching you, down on Earth, too.

Missy Ashiru

Water

Water. You hold me as I reside in you, around you, below you Every mammoth hoof, tongue of the Mesozoic era, stained on my body

I soared through the sky with the pterodactyls teaching their young

I swelled the seas and offered home to the whale song I hold a past on your tongue.

I’m Water.

Water. Held in interstellar clouds far from this planet Clouds Earth’s seas could not hold Pumped like breath through the galaxy

As your heart pumps me through your veins And the tiger’s.

I’m Water.

Charlotte Gage

My Friend and I

lie on the grass and look at the sky. What can we see?

A rabbit, us playing and a love heart float by, the grass is soft and tickles my back. It’s been a long time now and it’s dark. What can we see?

The stars twinkle and shine. They look like bright lights in the night. Mummy calls – time to go. Night night. Sleep tight.

Dillon Watt

The Beach of Space

What are we?

Perhaps but a grain of sand on a cosmic beach, With the Milky Way as the ocean, flooding space, washing ashore stars like shells: they’re pretty but we don’t mourn their death. With billions of kilometres of space, there are bound to be more.

When we see the beauty of the planets, around the galaxy like islands, that one day may sink or be destroyed, we set sail to these places. How do we know they exist?

If we see them in the past, are they still here?

Etta O’Flaherty Jones

Diamonds

Our story begins on a marbled space-rock;

Ancient wounds and pockmarks litter its surface, a thick wool atmosphere crushing it in a deadly embrace. The life there had built great towers that spew out suffocating air.

They are merely a blip in the vast rippling velvet, punctuated by tea lights shining on unfathomable worlds. We are ignorant.

We can be forgiven for not understanding.

Angry red eyes and scattered wedding rings are human inventions, Loneliness, money, class. We think synthetic power will provide us with beauty.

But true power lies in a pool of fire, gas swirling in discombobulated orbits and rings of ice. Pop! Squeak!

Down below the hubbub fall ashy tears identical to the spluttering clouds tumbling and billowing out of the grand towers. Crash! Squash!

Dive further, see the glittering shards of ice melt into a sea Made of marriage jewels.

Journey back,

To where an ape with big ambitions saw a glittering shard of ice;

Soon they were all fighting over a precious novelty.

Little did they know, Somewhere, on Saturn,

It is raining diamonds.

Florence Hall

Aftermath

A moth pattered against the window until I snatched it in my childish fist, like a jewel in a paperweight. If I scrunched up my hand, the moth would implode to weeping sequins, all because I mapped my certain worries onto its wings and found something so arrogant in its symmetry. After all, it was only an insect, not a mammal at all, only worth its negligible weight in gold, only the aftermath of a moth.

Instead, it rustled under my collapsed steeple like unfolding origami, arranging itself for the final defeat, the triumph I reaped. So, I released it outside, even though I knew it was hibernating and I spent that hour pottering, accompanied by a ghostly rustling, then the silence of the slaughter I almost accomplished.

Leonie Hanan

Sun and Rain

The sun smiles upon its precious earth

Beaming

Yet dark clouds roll in Thundering

But the earth knows That this is how it works

Rain And in acceptance

Life sprouts

Brimming with joy

And a new hope

And so I look up fondly

Knowing that after the clouds pour down This pain will go as the sun shines again

Renewing me

This is not the end

This is the beginning

And I will remain connected to this life

Of sorrowful rain and joyful sunshine

Forever

Jhermayne Ubalde

Golden Record

Author’s note: The Golden Record is a time capsule that was launched with Voyager in 1977, designed to portray life on Earth. It contains music, sounds of nature, greetings spoken in 55 languages, as well as instructions on how the record is to be played. It will be 40,000 years before the capsule approaches any other planetary system.

The girl who left peeled oranges on my doorstep is years away. Does everyone cry when they forget? If someone finds us here, they will see the arch of your hand extended in corpse-like rigour, and they will hear the quirk of your lips when you sleep. Maybe we are negative space in a vacuum predetermined to collapse. Maybe we are galaxies colliding, never meeting, incomprehensible, eternal.

Kaila Patterson

Dear Human Being

When you meet a hazy morning, On a sweet mellow beach, Sand clings to your fingers, As gritty hands reach, When you pass a park, On a coarse autumn’s day, Leaves wander after you, Chasing your feet to stay, When you place the paintbrush, On an undecided page, Colours swirl after your touch, Until a vibrant swirling stage, All the world roots for you, Dear human being, Life’s your ally for the ride, Enjoy the sightseeing, Therefore don’t tell me, That there’s nil for you to do, If you watch the racing spin, The world turns for you.

Laiba Yousuf

The Museum of the Anthropocene

Looks like a software company that provided an open-source platform. Sounds like a leading researcher in visual neuroscience.

Feels like women’s fashion in eighteenth-century Europe.

Tastes like a protein that in humans is encoded by the BIN3 gene.

Smells like porches with hipped tile roofs over the entrances.

Is as important as the formation of the club in 1997.

Is better than a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts.

Aashka Vardhman

The Universe’s Inbox

Ping! A new email pops up: Earthling No. 1211987658 has joined the cosmos.

Ping! A deleted email appears: Earthling No. 1106591 has left the cosmos.

Ping! A draft is being written: To-be-Earthling No. 1211987665 is 3 weeks away from joining the cosmos.

Ping! A crucial email is added to the archive: Earthling No. 1211987652 to be future prodigy of the specified planet.

Ping! A new note has been written: Variation in the genetic code of current species of human to be created in approx. 42 generations.

Ping! Emergency notification: All emails have been deleted in a glitch and cannot be recovered.

Logan Smith

Miracle

Now here is my secret, It is very simple.

It’s what’s invisible to the naked eye. Oh, but what a masterpiece it is!

Shapeshifting into an owl in the bloom of night But in the daylight it is something else.

Diving into the water as a dazzling dolphin… Teleporting into the safari as a zebra… There are so many possibilities, aren’t there?

Though not all creatures are born to blend. If it wasn’t born to blend in, It was born to stand out.

The Use and Abuse of Language

Language is everywhere, It brings us together in times of need And is sculpted into songs With unique melodies. Yet language is divisive, And angry and rude. Like the world that we live in It is hurt and abused.

From the ableism around To the common ‘Ladies and Gents’.

This world sees me as different, It excludes and torments.

The subtitles are wrong, Confusing, don’t exist. A constant ‘never mind’ Hurtful words off friends’ lips.

This part may seem petty, To those with gendered minds, But to call me ‘he’ or ‘she’ Is more pain that I must hide.

A hurt I can’t explain

Other than a tightness inside, I wince at each small word That is fine in your mind’s eye.

Language is my enemy, We battle every day, Yet it is ignorance I should blame That gets in my way. Because with the people I do love, Language is the prize, We dance and laugh to its song And my friends are by my side.

Poems Written in Schools

The following poems were written in primary schools and community groups in Paisley, Derry-Londonderry, Caernarfon, Luton and Hull. A team of poet-facilitators worked with the young people to create collaborative class poems on the theme of connection. You can watch some of the children performing their poems at bit.ly/AboutUsSchools

Poems from Schools in Renfrewshire

Bishopton Primary School

poem created with Imogen Stirling

The Planet

The planet is beautiful, It shines purple and green. It’s like a big bean!

The planet is humungous; It’s like a big fungus.

The moon is shining bright, The moon will change shape every night. The moon will fight the sun tonight.

Bishopton Primary School

poem created with Imogen Stirling

We Are All Connected

I live in Bishopton, I live on a planet.

It’s beautiful – but not as much as me. And I live in my layers of life. My favourite thing to do is: Playing football, Talking to friends, Reading books, Playing with my hamster, Running fast. But most of all… Leading my hide-and-seek team into victory! We are all connected.

We are tall but some are small. We agree and disagree. We are all side by side.

Bridge of Weir Primary School

poem created with Kevin Gilday

About Us

I’m small, very small

My brain is like fireworks

The bright lights twinkling

Like a big colourful nest

Just energy between me and you

Rude brains, naughty brains, anxious brains

Brighter than a supernova

125 trillion synapses that keep us sane

Like a pencil in a sharpener

Like a phone with infinite storage

The planet trusts us

Lights connect cities and villages

The moon gives up

There are not enough birds singing their song

Just mother nature and herself

The Big Bang was nothing before it exploded

A speck of dust, a grain of sand

I don’t feel small, I feel important

We can do everything, if we just imagine

Make me walk, make me talk

Connect my brain

The Earth is who we breathe, taste, touch, smell

It’s who we are

Connection is all there is

Bridge of Weir Primary School

poem created with Kevin Gilday

A Picture of Magic

Your brain is bright

A picture of magic

Rainbow sparks and electricity

They are perfect

Fire burning inside

Lines that blow your mind

Blue like crystals

Fight like a heavyweight

Escape from this cage

Sharp and fierce

Lights flicker, flooding the sky

Alive just like a beehive

The stars, ever so far

The Earth like a hamster ball

This colourful thing

The world in all its glory

Are we spending our lives wisely?

We are lucky to have light

We are lucky to have life

I’m so grateful for my brain

PS Thanks for the poem

Cochrane Castle Primary School

poem created with Alan McClure

Our Universe

We come from Home

Busy, cloudy Johnstone

Ma bit

My house

Chores, family, Xbox

Happy like a Christmas morning

Rainy like a dripping tap

As good as going on holiday!

Why don’t we look after it?

We come from Scotland

Bonnie, busy Scotland

Mountains, freedom, Highland cows

It is as cold as the North Pole

Bonkers as a circus!

Festive, freezing

Green and great!

Where did the traditions come from?

We come from Earth

Brilliant, beautiful Earth

Spain to Japan

Wales to Brazil

Our crazy, natural home.

Pretty as the ocean, Mind-blowing as the sun!

Why does it change?

We come from the Solar System

Strange and ginormous Saturn, Jupiter, the Moon

Our home in the Milky Way

Interesting like a book

Epic, messy Why does it exist?

We come from the universe

Fascinating, friendly

Beautiful as a butterfly

Mysterious as a cave

Why is the universe so big? Did it create time, Or did we?

Fordbank Primary School

poem created with Alan McClure

The Universe is Spectacular

Born in Paisley, crazy big busy Roads, pavements

Home.

Food is home. Warm bed

Calmness, kindness

Cosy and warm

Dogs and cats

Xbox and PS5.

My house is as big as an aeroplane!

Born in Scotland

Beautiful as a sunflower

Irn-Bru and independence

Rain and bad weather

This country is cold

This country is best!

I want more forest

I want some snow

I want more sun

The climate is changing.

Born on Earth

Green and blue

This planet is amazing

I want to go on holiday, I want more friends

Mexico, Canada, Panama, France

The planet is vast

So many people live on Earth –Too many?

Born in the universe

Started as a dot

Bang! The universe was created Excellent!

Changing every day

Meteors, planets, galaxies, stars

Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Mars

The universe Is Spectacular!

Howwood Primary School

poem created with Imogen Stirling

Let Me Tell You about My Home

My home looks like mountains as tall as skyscrapers you’ll beg to climb. Stunning nature is everywhere, islands float in water so clear I can see my face in it. My home looks like towns and villages, our park, shop and school.

My home is the sound of a flag flapping in the breeze, a bubbling kettle blasting music, barking dogs, a running tap, a crackling candle. It is the beep boop of my Xbox, the shhhhhh of my boiler, the click click click of my keyboard.

My home is the sound of my chanter, of trains rushing by, bellowing cattle and creaking stairs, trees dancing in the wind.

My home is the taste of Irn-Bru bubbling in my mouth, a good bit of shortbread, haggis on Burns Night.

My home is the smell of a damp garden, the strawberry plant grown by my mum.

My home feels dreich to some, but to me it is cold air on my face, the snug fit of my football boots, or a thistle prick, ow!

Howwood Primary School

poem created with Imogen Stirling

Just Like the Animals

The night is falling quickly

The stars dazzle in the dark

Owls howl in the misty shadows

Wolves stare at the full moon

The sly fox is hunting for small sleekit prey

Her sneaky footsteps in the mushy mud

Waiting for the right time to make a move

The wolf and her pups shelter in a dark cave

Eyes closing slowly

Sleeping silently in a corner

The fox sprints to see her babies before the sun rises

Animals are coming home

It makes me think

When I come home, I am loved

When I come home, I am warm

When I come home, I am cosy

When I come home, I am safe

When I come home, my family are there for me

It is the place I will always return to Just like the animals

Mossvale Primary School

poem created with Alan McClure

Big Questions About the Big Bang

We are all related, we are all family

We share most of our DNA with apes

We are related to bananas!

Live

Stay positive

Look after one another

We can be kind and caring

We change to fit our environment

We could stop polluting

Littering, cutting down trees

Cruelty to animals

Make better weather

Fewer diseases

Is the universe a giant clock?

Earth is round

A clock is round

It feels like time is going slow

Earth looks like a football

Like a sea, like an apple

When we think of these things

It feels like time goes too fast

Is the universe a clock

Running out of time?

Are we in a singularity?

Was there nothing before the Big Bang

Because of a black hole?

What was there before Earth was made?

Was the Big Bang a nuclear explosion?

Will it lead to a nuclear wasteland?

Combustion

Planets and stars

DNA

It made dust and earth

Heat

And death

Beyond the universe

There is a multiverse

There is a black sky

There are stars

We don’t know what is beyond the universe

Space debris, meteors

Anything?

Are there gadgets that people have used before?

There are things you can’t imagine

Is there a black hole at the end of the universe?

Riverbrae School

poems created with Kevin Gilday

Jamie

I am Jamie

I am sunny

I am a banana

I am a brave lion

I am light blue

I love playing outside

I fear monsters

I need lunch

Callum

I am Callum

I am stormy

I am a sausage

I am a noisy chicken

I am dark blue

I love doing things

I fear my noisy alarm

I need quiet

Katie

I am Katie

I am sunny

I am a loaf of bread

I am a blue raccoon

I am neon pink

I love everything

I fear lightning

I need lots of help

Taylor

I am Taylor

I am a sun

I am a hot dog

I am a small dog

I am yellow

I love games and VR games

I fear spiders

I need food

West Primary School

poem created with Tawona Sitholé

The Universe Is Everything We Touch

The universe is everything we touch

The universe is blazing with colours

There are 40 quintillion black holes in the universe

The Earth is not flat but the universe is Planets are dark but sometimes colourful

It seems confusing but actually beautiful

Sun was shining with flames when Earth was spinning with power

As the stars were shining the Earth twinkled in the light

Planets are shiny as can be

Venus

Earth

Neptune

Uranus

Saturn

Venus stands for all the planets

The planets are made out of cheese

The moon is tasty

Galaxy is the best chocolate in the Milky Way

Milky Way is good with Mars

Echoing

Thunderous

We listen when folk talk to us

Mistakes help me to learn and grow

Respect trust honesty

Where everyone succeeds together

West Primary

West Primary School

poem created with Tawona Sitholé

About Us

It was hot when it was young

The sun is a part of the galaxy and so are the planets

All the planets orbit the sun

The Earth is not flat but the universe is

Two billion stars shining in the sky

We lie down and watch them fly

Two billion smiles on our faces

As we watch the daisies on the grassy fields

Show respect towards everyone and everything

Clean up the oceans

Stop cutting down trees

We are a team

Scientists say the Big Bang made the universe

Religion says God created the universe

When two things merge, it makes a bigger and better thing

Oh! I never knew that the Milky Way is the biggest galaxy

The universe is 13.7 billion years old

There is a supermassive black hole at the heart of every galaxy

There are over 700 quintillion planets

This is confusing

The universe spans a diameter of over 150 billion light years

I was shocked that Mercury doesn’t have a moon

Feeling scared that black holes exist in the middle of galaxies

Everything is possible, even the impossible

It will be cold when it grows old

Woodlands Primary School

poem created with Rachel Plummer

When I Was a Star

When I was a star, I played golf with aliens. When I was a star, I lay on my invisible bed.

When I was a star, I played with my dog, Pluto.

When I was a star, I had Earth muffins for breakfast.

When I was a star, I inspired little kids to stargaze and dream.

When I was a star, I loved to make a yellow star cake.

When I was a star, I played hide-and-seek and hid on the Moon.

When I was a star, I got sunburn.

When I was a star, my mum left me alone.

When I was a star, the children looked up.

When I was a star, I watched rockets fly by.

When I was a star, I ate the galaxy.

When I was a star, I watched the astronauts jump up and down.

When I was a star, I would burst like a nova.

When I was a star, I would go to a space station to travel from planet to planet.

When I was a star, I liked looking down at Earth to see what was going on.

When I was a star, I played football with the planets and won the Universe Cup.

When I was a star, I went on holiday in the Milky Way.

When I was a star, I would sing to the moons.

When I was a star, I floated in the sky all the time, waiting for something.

When I was a star, I made a pattern with others. When I was a star, I had golden limbs.

When I was a star, I would play in a starry place.

When I was a star, I kissed another star to see its magic.

When I was a star, I bounced around.

When I was a star, I went to star school and learned how to explode and make my own universe.

When I was a star, I played Starnite.

When I was a star, I had a pet starfish.

When I was a star, I gave birth to another star.

When I was a star, I shone like luxury.

Poems from Schools in Derry-Londonderry

Gaelscoil Éadain Mhóir

poem created with Áine Ní Ghlinn

An Duine agus an Domhan

Is mise an Domhan

A bhí glas agus gorm

Ach faraor anois

Níl dath ar bith orm

Is mise an bláth

A bhíodh glas agus buí

Tá na plandaí ag fáil bháis

Tá siad lag agus liath

Is mise an abhainn

A ritheann tríd an domhan

Tá an plaisteach ag fás

Tá na héisc ag fáil bháis

Is mise an t-éan a d’eitil abhaile

Chuig mo chlann sa chrann

Ach níl aon chrann fágtha

Níl mo chlann ann

Is mise an scamall, an scamall sa spéir

Bím ag amharc ar na daoine go léir

Scriosann siad an t-uisce agus an féar

Deora fearthainne ag titim tríd an aer

Is mise an Duine atá beo ar an Domhan

Muid ag marú na n-ainmhithe

Muid ag gearradh na gcrann

Caithfimid cuidiú nó ní beidh an Domhan ann

Caithfimid a bheith cúramach nó ní bheidh sé linn

Amharc air anois – tá an Domhan tinn

Is mise an Duine atá beo ar an Domhan

Caithfimid a bheith cúramach nó ní bheidh sé ann

Long Tower Primary School

poem created with Abby Oliveira

Perfect Day Soup

I.

My brother is crazy! He crashes, he bashes, he smashes!

Mum is like the Moon, she holds the family together. We would be lost without her. She’s strong like an army person.

My family would be bits of stardust all coming back together. II.

My cousin Shea is going to the park: down the slide, laughing, shouting, swimming, football, shining sun, roaring friends – too warm! Like gravity, it pulls me in.

Shea likes to play with his Playstation. He lives with his turtle at the International Wheelie-Bin Station.

III.

Playing in the park, I am the Sun in my new suit. There comes a frown when we lose.

Mum says I look really cute, her hair is curly sunshine.

When all these ingredients are put together it makes a Perfect Day Soup.

Long Tower Primary School

poem created with Abby Oliveira

The Marvellous Moon is Mad I.

My name is Energy Efficient Earth, hear my words!

Mrs Mars majestically mopped and mud went everywhere! Planets pack padlocks to protect their pineapples.

Parrots eat perfect parsnips and the marvellous moon is mad.

II.

The mallard told the moon to wear a mask for a magic trick; Mallard said he was a mature magician.

Mason turned into a merman overnight. Moon meant to move to Mars.

‘Give me the power of gravity or give me five-hundred sweets!’ moaned Mercury, whose handbag was so pretty.

III.

Silly stars slacking about slapping the other stars. Silky, spooky, bright and unique shining, shone, sleeping.

Uncle Jacob lost his job as a judge, great gravity gorged on the ghastly green goblins, glowing like gluten-free gelato.

The Moon is in the mood to play in some mud.

Model Primary School

poem created with Mícheál McCann

When

When I get taller, I could work in the Craft Village, I could move away, could stay, could rule the world, have equality.

Could live in a bright forest, it could be wet, be cold, be scary: nature. And I could eat berries, cherries!

When I get taller, I could reach the highest peaks, take care of sheep! Touch the skies…

I could stop the rainfall, could dance in it, could play in it. Lots of trees. A place within a place. Could stomp in the mud freely.

When…

I’ll find my family. There will be world peace, maybe. A life within a life. Dye my hair any colour. My life’s still being stitched together.

Oakgrove Integrated Primary School

poem created with Mícheál McCann

The Turnover Tree

We were all one thing once, even this turnover tree we imagine planting last spring in the school garden.

Looking outside at rain from the kitchen sink thinking about land, soil and the winding river.

We could have Derry more or Derry less. The world is in awful danger. Will there still be chips?

And people to share them with? The turnover tree grows pastry fruit like ruby treasures,

and its branches move whish, whish, whish, like all the trees in St. Columb’s. The best part is the quiet.

We like playing video games, sometimes you have to work to survive, sometimes you have to hide, sometimes you have to do the right thing.

When we get older what will we not have to imagine any more? I was somewhere, then I went home where all things are.

Oakgrove Integrated Primary School

poem created with Mícheál McCann

Manifesto: Into the Future

This big place we live in, a gift of rain. Big tall walls, the bridges, the trees in the parks. The future will be hard to imagine.

Will there be tigers? Love? Time? A galaxy still? The world is not our present. Tomorrow is not a promise, and we have no flying cars to save us yet.

In the future will we still be friends and speak? Will someone’s shiny trash have become our only treasure? Let’s imagine new ways to be kind.

Let’s love people; our pets; home. May we take joy out of small things close to us, even imagination. A swimming pool full of water, then dreams, then Orbeez, then cheese.

Is what we want in that place?

Time coming?

Will sickness be gone?

No more money to war? Keep at it. Keep at it.

Things in this world aren’t like Oreos. Let’s take what we need, no more. Don’t forget what it is we need. We won’t give up

while we have this gift of a slim, short pencil.

Rosemount Primary School

poem created with Maria McManus

In the night…

I see everything –people setting up their cameras… I roll up in a ball and go to sleep, I am a bridge of books, dark and silent. Smell the saltwater underneath me. I touch the Derry-side and the Waterside.

My sky can hear strong wind and the small birds saying good night, see the bright stars cloning, and my people below in the small town, dogs chasing my aurora like a beautiful set in the sky. I see fire.

My sea is an ocean wishing it could walk on land. Here is my jellyfish, it tastes of seawater, touching people, hurting them.

In the night I show my true form. I am a tree, the river washing my feet, the scent of loneliness roaming free through the grass like a wolf.

I can smell the death of deer. In the night I hunt my prey, see stars.

I touch the moss, I touch cows, I touch ice with my freezing cold paw, see the snow.

I am a grey heron. I smell of salt water. I feel the air blow as we soar together and taste the scent of rubber car wheels, or sit in my tree, hoping nothing finds me.

I wish I lived in a land with nothing trying to kill me. I see the massive forest, hear the animals talking to each other. I taste of the grass and the water I flow through, my flock around me while we fly. At night I see stars, red pandas, bamboo, monkeys, a dragon, birds twitting and snakes hissing –in the night, wolves howling, owls hooting.

All asleep, the darkness is crawling up on me. I am traumatised. I am as still as a building. I could move around the city, but I am stuck. I wish I could control myself, but I can’t. Other people control me, like an aeroplane; if I crash, I hear people running away and abandoning me.

I wish I could stay, go for a nice fly above the clouds, taste the wet rain, with my flowers growing and the bees coming gracefully to get my pollen.

I want to find food and good water and see the sun rising and setting every day and night.

Stop cutting trees down. Stop cutting down trees.

Rosemount Primary School

poem created with Maria McManus

Out of Space and the Whole World

In the morning, I see all of the stars, big blue fish, whales, dolphins, the clear sky, feel the breezy wind. I wake and go out to hunt. I wish for things I don’t know. I wish I had more attention –bees, people’s hands, and the wind moving me.

I’m fresh and happy, but sometimes I feel lonely. Outside in the dark, damp puddles –grass on my paws, wind in my fur. Or in snow, I am camouflaged, and hiss when I sense danger from poachers and machines cutting down trees.

If I could walk, strong and elegant, I’d visit other gardens, get some water, nice clear water, feel my confidence slowly getting higher, and swing tree to tree on slippery damp branches.

I’d see the sun and the sunrise, speedy, brand-new, doing tricks on wheels in the morning, or shining on prickly cactus.

I’d hunt other animals while they are still asleep, and find food for the cold, chilly winter.

I wish I had a nice cosy shelter. I want people, amazed and excited people, kind people, having a great time. I want my own comfy bed, and if I could stay forever, I would.

I try to escape but I fail. I want to leave to find somebody better but I cannot hear anything, and it makes me sad.

Stop destroying my home.

St Eugene’s Primary School poem created with Maria McManus

Awesome Universe

I am the Earth, orbiting the sun. I am fearless and clever, smelling of salt and the midnight air. I am ducklings led across the sand, and fish and turtles soaring through blue water.

I want my waves around the world. I am a deep and courageous, fearless ocean, colourful and strong as a striker wearing new kit and boots –on the ball, scoring to win. I want the sun, more pink stars, in a blue galaxy, blue and perfect.

Here the aurora is the most beautiful light in the sky, a rainbow at night. Art in this world: looking at the pink and orange setting sun, beside Venus and Mars.

I am beautiful: as beautiful as a blue and white calf eating soft hay, as beautiful as the wind rustling in the trees. I am wandering in the grass or forest, exploring, wild and brave and free, tired from the hunt,

thirsty and unstoppable, and loved, but I am not your galaxy. See me shine, glow brightly.

I want to be praised and protected, and for people to see how elegant I am. I want everyone to see me and to be astonished when they do, to be good enough for the shows, to stand out – like a red, white and green tower reflecting off the water at night.

I want to taste the grass and grow big and strong because I am different.

I want to fly and never go to sleep. I want to light up. I want to win.

Take care of me. Work together to clean up, take litter home and win our eco-friendly battle. We need an eco-world, and a St. Brigid’s Cross to protect our home from burning.

I am awesome.

St Oliver Plunkett Primary School

poems created with Mícheál McCann

The Derry Hood

Wherever your house or your favourite beach or walk through the city is, you’re walking on history. When I’m here I feel so small, not for the whizzing fireworks, or the pulsing drums, but because the days are hotter and the rain warmer.

Do you want the future to come?

The world won’t be fixed with flat 7UP, just ask the spiny dinosaurs. Their hearts are broke; the oak grove we live in, like fairies or nymphs, bustles and grows as trees should, healthily and well.

There’s so much I want to do so I draw a map to keep track, but I keep having to re-do it. I phone 999 but they can’t sort climate anxiety or empty shops. What prescription do we need to sort out the future’s problem? Our language is relentless and has saved us once before

St Paul’s Primary School

poem created with Abby Oliveira

The Centre of Our Universe

Gunfire sword swings

his brain is Planet Volcano.

Gravity lets her walk in life.

Heaven; love it.

Blue seas and pretty pink sunsets

music, dancing: our oxygen.

Sweet like buttercups and dark skies

slushies in the roaring hot sun

apple and magnolia trees

waves crashing on the shore

brain freeze screaming the centre of our universe.

Steelstown Primary School

poem created with Charles Lang

Our Universe

Many galaxies and black holes. Our blazing, glazing sun. A huge bright yellow ball. An inferno, a blaze of light.

The Earth, beautiful Earth. It’s blue and green with animals and humans, all different sizes.

We’re here in Derry city with the weather chilly. There are so many kinds of buildings and houses.

We celebrate St Patrick’s Day, dress like leprechauns, and watch Derry Girls with our loving families.

Steelstown Primary School

poem created with Charles Lang

Derry City Hamster

Our universe, the Milky Way, with stardust, moons, planets. Uranus, Saturn, Venus, Jupiter Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Earth. Starlight, bright night, lightning booming in my bedroom with my brave hamster who likes to eat hamster food. Together my family love yummy ice-cream, trips to the bowling alley, our dinner on Christmas day. I love Derry city. Here we have amazing coffee, the best football club. And my hamster – she’s cool!

Poems from schools in Caernarfon

Ysgol Gynradd Bontnewydd

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Anni Llŷn

Clyw

Pan dwi’n hapus dwi fel haul yn disgleirio.

Pan dwi’n flin dwi fel corwynt yn gwibio.

Pan dwi’n ofnus dwi fel mynydd, yn llonydd, llonydd.

Pan dwi’n gweiddi dwi fel gwynt yn rhuo.

Clyw!

Sŵn glaw annisgwyl; cymylau’n crio.

Pan dwi wedi cyffroi dwi fel mwnci’n sgrechian.

Pan dwi’n cysgu dwi fel babi panda bychan.

Pan dwi’n colli ’nhempar dwi fel tarw.

Clyw!

Y creigiau garw, garw.

Pan dwi ar fy mhen fy hun dwi fel planed Plwto.

Pan dwi’n oer dwi fel y lleuad yn crynu heno.

Pan dwi’n benderfynol

Dwi fel carreg anferthol.

Clyw!

Arogl hallt y môr.

Clyw ni’n dweud fel un côr;

Mae rhain i gyd ynom ni.

Y byd yw ti a fi.

Ysgol Gynradd Bontnewydd

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Anni Llŷn

Y Trychfilod

Aderyn bygythiol sydd uwch ben

Y fuwch goch gota smotiog

A gwythiennau gwad glas

Y pryf copyn heglog.

Mae sioncyn y gwair yn sefyll

Clyw…

Sŵn saith siswrn.

Dim ond dynion sy’n hedfan

ym myd y pryfaid tân

mân, mân.

A chwarae mae’r chwilan

O dan y coed

Gyda’r neidr bedwardegchwechdroed!

Y pethau pitw sy’n perthyn,

Yn cosi’n traed,

Yn gwneud ni chwerthin.

Ysgol Gynradd Llandwrog

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Branwen Haf

Williams

Cysylltiad

’Da ni’n fyw, Ar y blaned, Yn anadlu

Yn rhan o’r byd mawr crwn

’Da ni’n neidio’n uchel

A’n gwibio’n gyflym fel y gwynt.

Gweryru, mewian, gwichian, Yn ymestyn yn dal fel ystol, Weithiau’n flin, weithiau’n dawel

Rhuo trwy’r gorffennol.

’Da ni’n llosgi fel tân, Arnofio fel dolffiniaid yn y gofod

Mewn cylchoedd mawr a bach.

’Da ni’n perthyn fel teulu

Mor agos a llanw a thrai

Y grymoedd sy’n ein dal ni ‘lawr

Yn gwneud i ni holi ac archwilio’r

Bydysawd serog, swynol, sgleiniog.

Ysgol Gynradd Llandwrog

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Branwen Haf Williams

Corff Caernarfon

Mae corff Caernarfon yn iach a hapus

Stryd y Plas coesau cawr

Bwytai blasus yw’r bol

Curiad calon ysgolion

Y cei fel llyfan barcyd

Uwch ysgyfaint y môr

Miloedd o dai fel neidr o weithiennau

Prysurdeb McDonalds fel pyls

O dan glustiau’r Wyddfa,

A’r castell a’i goron ddisglair ar ei ben.

Ysgol Gynradd Llandwrog

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Branwen Haf Williams

Ni Ydi...

Ni ydi sŵn ceir a’r cloc larwm, Radio’r adar, ffrae o ffrindiau ffeind.

Ni ydi arogl cathod a woffls, Selotêp newydd a lolipops lemon.

Ni ydi blew bol y ci o dan ein bysedd, Y brwsh dannedd yn dirgrynu’r dannedd.

Ni ydi blas hen wyau, Chips, churos a Cheinis. Madarch meddal a smwddis Swig.

Ni ydi’r anifeiliaid a’r natur, Y ceir a’r coed a’r cariad rhwng y bobl.

Ni ydi’r gwahanol sydd ‘run peth. Ni ydi’r byd.

Ysgol Gynradd Maesincla

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Gruffudd Owen

Caernarfon

David Lloyd George – (neu ‘bird poo boy’) yn edrych i lawr ar y byd yn troi; gwylanod chiclyd yn heidio’n un criw, fel hogia Maesincla, efo’i hiaith bob lliw.

Perfume Neinia’ ac aftershave plant ac amball i rafin efo calon sant.

Ryw betha’ fel yma ydi’n tre fach ni, efo’i hogla vape, a’i chips a’i baw ci.

Y mw-mŵs yn mw-mŵio wrth y castall bach

a’r Fenai a Twthill, ac awyr iach, miwsig gangsta yn blastio o ffôn wrth i genod ysgol sgwario lawr lôn, hen bobol garedig yn eu ceginau clud efo’i dyddiau rhad a’u eiliadau drud.

Ryw betha’ fel yma ydi’n tre fach ni; y dre sy’n gwbod yn iawn pwy ’dw i.

Ysgol Gynradd Maesincla

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Gruffudd Owen

Pensal

Roedd y bensal yma’n arfer bod

yn goeden. Un dal a hardd

efo gwallt gwyrdd gwlyb ac roedd ganddi goedwig o ffrindiau yn gwmni.

Mae hi’n cofio teimlo’r pryfaid

fel gemwaith

llachar am ei gwddw

a’r adar yn canu cerddi rhwng ei dail.

Roedd hi’n gwybod, er gwaetha’i gwreiddiau, bod ei thraed hi’n rhydd.

Roedd hynny cyn i ddanedd

lli gadwyn ei brathu

hi’n racs a’i brifo i’r byw.

Ond mae hi’n dal i gofio

yr haul a’r gwynt yn ei gwallt gwlyb; ac efallai, os gwrandewch chi’n astud, y gwnaiff hi gynnig ei cherddi

i law yr un

sydd yn gafael amdani’n dynn.

Ysgol Gynradd Maesincla

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Gruffudd Owen

Ni

Pwy ’da ni...?

Y Cofis Cwl! Mwncis Maesincla!

Criw Caffi Cei! Cesus Costa!

Beirdd Ben Byrdda, efo twll yn eu sanna!

(Digon o leI gadw Bananna!)

Riley Rech!Iestyn testun!

Caernarfon Cave girls! Cofis Cwstard!

Y grwp grwfi!Y Gang grêt!

Dreigia dre’! Kebabs Caernarfon!

A be da ni ishio....?

KFC! Cŵn cŵl crazy!

Castell llawn cwstard!Ci mewn cwpan!

Doughnuts Dyncio!Teyrnas Teidiau!

A muriau mawr llawn cerddi Cofi!

Ysgol Gynradd Maesincla

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Gruffudd Owen

Y Traeth

Mae ’na granc yn dawnsio fel dyn ’di meddwi

a gwylan fel plusman yn sgrechian ei seiran, (cyn dwyn ambell jipsan);

a’r cregyn yn crenshan dan draed fel cnoi crisps

a’r dolffins yn dilyn ei gilydd

fel defaid yn prancio’n y tonnau; Llamhidyddion llawn hwyl.

Ond gwyliwch sioc drydan y sglefran fôr sglyfath!

Mae’r gwymon yn llithrig fel llaw fferi licwid. Gwell chill-io ’fo chocolate

ar y tywod siwgwrllyd, ac ymlacio fel mochyn yn hapusrwydd yr haul.

Ysgol Gynradd Maesincla

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Gruffudd Owen

Rydan ni’n gwybod...

Hanes Segontiwm a’r castell a’r skate-park a holl gyfrinachau y tonnau a’r tai, a gyd ’da ni ishio

’di beirdd bach llai boring

a digon o ginio dydd sul bob dydd Iau!

A dyddiau hirfelyn ym mharc dros yr Aber a Nel ar y teli, ar Heno, bob nos!

Ysgol Gynradd Maesincla

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Gruffudd Owen

Ein bywyd ni

‘Bore gwyntog ym Maesincla

ac mae brawd bach fi fyny ers pedwar yn bora yn gneud lot o synna wrth chwara ’fo toys.

Mae ci fi’n rhedag a rhedag a rhedag, achos bod o’n boncyrs, rownd a rownd y room ffrynt.

Pannad o de, efo tri lwmp o siwgwr (neu dau, os ti’n healthy)

achos mae panad heb siwgwr yn blasu’n hyll. Drwy’r ffensast oer mae ’na seagulls barus yn cael ffeit efo bin-bag ac yn chwalu fo’n racs; a draw yn y pellter mae mynyddoedd fel cyllyll yn sbio’n fygythiol arna ni lawr fan hyn.

Wrth gyffwrdd drws car mae brên fi’n cofio

ogla Pizza Hut Llandudno, y lle gora’n y byd.

Ac wrth i’r tai wagio aiff y ci nôl i gysgu er mwyn cael breuddwydio am dragwyddoldeb... a bwyd.’

Ysgol Gynradd Maesincla

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Gruffudd Owen

Hei Mr Lloyd!

Hei Mr Lloyd! Rydach chi’n buta coed!

Yn marcio llyfrau maths ac yfad coffi.

Hei Mr Lloyd! Da chi’n ddau ddeg saith oed!

A chwara teg di traed chi byth yn smeli!

Ysgol Gynradd Maesincla

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Gruffudd Owen

Hon....

Hon ydi’r dre lle mae castell llawn ysbrydion yn cysgu wrth y cei.

Hon ydi’r dre lle mae’r genod a’r hogia mor sassy sna’m gobaith iddyn nhw gerddad yn sdret!

Hon ydi’r dre lle mae ffrindiau fel cotia’ yn cadw ni’n gynnas mewn neuaddau oer.

Hon ydi’r dre lle mae cathod fel teigrod yn chwilio am fwytha gan pobol randym.

Hon ydi’r dre lle mae’r Gymraeg braidd yn sdici fel fferins o shop Super Cigs.

Hon ydi’r dre sy’n swatio, jyst am rwan, rhwng eliffant cysglyd a neidar o fôr.

Ysgol Gynradd Rhostryfan

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Anni Llŷn

Amdanom Ni

200 smotyn ar y jiraff Fel y brychni haul ar fy nhrwyn.

4 lliw yw byd y ci sy’n cuddio yn y llwyn.

Mamalod cigysol yw cathod, Cinio dydd sul yw fy hoff fwyd. 350,000 o bobl ar yr Wyddfa ar hyd y llethrau llwyd.

Mae jellyfish yn perthyn i’r cwrel a llwynogod yn hoffi chwarae, fel ni a phlant drws nesa yng ngalaeth Andromeda.

Mae 60 math o gathod., mae 90% o cylchoedd Sadwrn yn ddŵr. Mae rhai cŵn yn gallu rhedeg yn gynt na cheetah a Usain Bolt, dwi’n siwr.

Yn y ffeithiau mae ’na berthyn rhwng y byd a ni’n fan hyn.

Ysgol Gynradd Rhostryfan

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Anni Llŷn

Fy Natur i

Pan dwi wedi cyffroi,

Dwi’n gwenu fel yr haul ar hanner dydd

Dwi fel llosgfynydd yn barod i ffrwydro

Dwi’n sboncio fel cangarŵ

Pan dwi’n ofnus

Dwi’n clywed fy nghalon fel swn traed cheetah

Dwi’n teimlo Pili Pala yn cosi tu mewn

Dwi’n teimlo chwys fel gwlith ar fy nghledrau

Pan dwi’n hapus

Dwi’n dawnsio fel brigau yn y gwynt

Dwi’n chwerthin fel hyena

Dwi’n neidio fel cwningen

Pan dwi’n flin

Dwi’n gweiddi fel taran yn taro’r llawr yn y nos

Dwi’n gwylltio fel storm

Dwi rhuo fel llew llwglyd.

Ysgol Gynradd Rhosgadfan

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Anni Llŷn

Y Gwynt

Lle bu’r gwynt?

Yn chwibanu,

Yn oeri,

Yn bwerus, Yn gweiddi?

Lle bu’r gwynt

Yn gofalu

Yn gwthio

Yn gweld

Yn gwrando?

Lle bu’r gwynt

Yn heneiddio

Yn troelli

Yn ddireidus

Yn gwirioni?

Bu’r gwynt yn profi…

Gwreiddiau’r coed fel neidr

Y llyn llonydd

Y llygaid bach du

Y mynyddoedd gwyn

Lliwiau’r enfys yn llifo

Mynydd o goed

Yr Haul bach

Lliwiau llachar yr awyr

A dau gwch unig.

Ond bu hefyd

Ar fynydd eliffant pan o’n i’n ddwy oed

Yn hel llys ar Moel Tryfan

Yn gwrando ar y dwr tawel yn Pont yr afon

Ar ben yr Wyddfa efo Osian

Yn cario arogl ffarm

Yn chwarae ar chwyrligwgan ein parc

Yn trio dwyn pel y Mountain Rangers

A bu’r gwynt yn sibrwd straeon

Kate Roberts.

Do, bu’r gwynt yn hedfan

Yn rhydd uwch Rhosgadfan.

Ysgol Santes Helen

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Anni Llŷn

O Ben Twtil

O ben Twtil

mae’r cymylau fel eliffantod enfawr

a’r mynyddoedd pell yn cuddio oddi tanyn nhw

yn bowlenni ben i lawr

a phob coeden yn gawr.

Ond mae’r castell fel tegan, yn fychan, fychan.

Ar ben Twtil

rydan ni ’n sefyll

am ddauddeg dau munud wedi dau

ar yr ail o’r ail, dwy fil dauddeg dau

a mwd ar ein hesgidiau.

Rydan ni’n teimlo

yn hapus fel blodyn hardd

yn nerfus fel diwrnod cymylog

yn flin fel seren yn llosgi.

Ond ni yw lliw glas y Fenai ni yw’r anifeiliaid dewr

ni yw’r gwynt sy’n rhydd ni yw’r afonydd.

O ben Twtil ni yw y byd.

Ysgol y Gelli

Geni

Cyn bod sôn am dydd a nos ac awyr iach a dŵr y ffos a mynd a dod y moroedd mawr

roedd duwch tew heb gwmni’r wawr. Nid oedd ond t’wyllwch gwag a maith a Mawrth yn cychwyn ar ei thaith ond roedd ’na ran ohonof i un smic, ymysg y sêr di-ri.

Mi ro’n i’n ronyn bach, yn bod cyn i’r gwres a’r nwyon ddod, a chyn i olau greu fy myd, a chyn bod daear i mi’n grud.

Mi ro’n i ym’n rhan o’r llwch yn nofio yn y niwl fu’n drwch, un curiad chwim mewn calon iach yn dod i’r byd yn ddistaw bach.

Bydysawd wyf

o’ nghorun i ’nhraed.

Bydysawd wyf

o gig a gwaed.

Ysgol yr Hendre

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Grug Muse

Dŵr a cherrig

Shwsh-shwsh, mae’r glaw yn disgyn drosta i ond dwi’m yn poeni gyda thi. Ac er fod y glaw yn troi y palmant yn fôr fe ganwn ni gariad y glaw fel un côr.

Sh-sh-sh, gwsh, gwsh, shwish, shwish, shwish, y dŵr yn mynd dros y cerrig, yn fwy cryf a mwy peryglus gyda pob eiliad, yn fwyfwy pwerus.

Tip-tap, clic-clac, cenllusg a maracas.

Sŵn uchel fel storm, fel miwsig.

Mae’r cerrig yn yr afon yn grwn fel love hearts yn ddel fel duw, yn grwn fel cragen crwban yn dywyll fel storm, a miniog fel cyllell.

Shwsh-shwsh, tip-tap, clic-clac, sh-sh-sh, gwsh, gwsh, shwish, shwish, shwish.

Ysgol yr Hendre

crëwyd y gerdd gyda’r bardd Grug Muse

Dŵr a cherrig

Mae’r dŵr yn unig yn yr afon, oherwydd mae o ar ei ben ei hun, a dyna pam mae’n mynd i’r môr.

A dwi’n gryf fel dŵr, yn symud fel y môr, yn symud dros y cerrig a’i llyfu fel lolipop, gwneud tyllau fel dannedd siarc, gwneud darnau gwydr yn esmwyth a llyfn.

Mae’r cerrig yn y tonnau yn swnio fel arian, yn swnio fel tegan babi yn cael ei ysgwyd. Swish, swish, swish, mae darn arall wedi diflannu a’i wasgaru.

Mae ’na lot o bobol, fel mae na lot o gerrig, rhai mor drwm a’r byd, rhai llwyd fel cymylau yn yr awyr. Ac mae dŵr yn medru dysgu chdi, ond dwi fel carreg, oherwydd dwi’n gryf a dwi ddim ofn dim byd yn y byd. Neu falle fel y dŵr, sy’n glir fel ffenest ac oer fel eira.

Weithiau, dwi’n gryf fel carreg, weithiau dwi’n symud fel y môr.

Poems from Schools and Community Groups in Luton

Bushmead Primary School

poem created with John Hegley

Yes

A smile says: yes.

A heart says: blood.

When the rain says drink, The earth says mud. The butterfly says: burp. The bat says: tongue.

When the slow worm says wiggle, The badger says yum.

A bush says: shoosh.

A mead says: grow.

When the tree says thrive, The grass says low.

Slowly.

Bushmead Primary School

poem created with John Hegley

Merveille du Jour

Lying to you, we are; we are not what we seem.

Even though I am a leaf, I am not.

After crawling through the forest, I blend in with my surroundings.

Flying from tree to tree, stopping when someone can see me.

CHUMS

poem created with Cheryl Moskowitz

About Us

We make paper butterflies to flutter away into the night sky, we dream they reach the arms of the universe. In big colourful letters we write our names and hope that someone special and imaginary will discover us: Cherished, Confident Lion, Benevolent Cupid, Heavenly Queen, Enlightened One, Truth Teller, Warrior Woman, High-Born, Grace. We spread our own powerful wings and fly high, we are sisters and brothers of the sky. We carry gifts, things that connect us to home: a class photo, my brother’s ring, roses from my Luton garden, the golden Claddagh Stone from my beloved Emerald Isle, the memory of my Grandad Pat.

Revoluton Arts

poem created with Cheryl Moskowitz

Definitions of Connection

(after ‘mer · cy’ by Alison C. Rollins)

connection (/kəˈnɛkʃ(ə)n/) noun.

1a. A potent, unbreakable bond experienced / felt; b. it stayed with him forever; c. a closely-knit family; d. a sense of community. 2a. All of us in the same house; b. as in, raindrops falling into the same pool of water; c. different leaves, same tree; d. like cells in the same body; e. like the letters in a word.

3a. The fundamental link between all living beings; b. eg the producers who give and the predators who take;

c. as in, the recognition of our bond when my cat misses me from home; d. as in, knowing what my sister is about to say, before she gets a chance to say it. 4a. Sunlight shining through struggle; b. as in, that you brought a cool drink in a glass bottle to a lady doing chores on a hot day; c. eg that moment when we caught each other laughing at the same thing; d. fingers set in motion; that you brushed my hair with that hard brush – pulling straight the untamed curls of my hair. 5a. The linking or holding together of people or things; b. the uniforms they were wearing instantly connected the children; c. you and me darling, we have a special connection; d. she was wearing a necklace of intricately connected beads; e. a many petalled flower.

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School

poem created with John Hegley

I Need You

I need you like an ant needs strength.

I need you like a bat needs Halloween.

I need you like a cactus needs the desert.

I need you like a dandelion needs delion.

I need you like an ear needs an earring.

I need you like a family needs each other.

I need you like measles need medicine.

I need you like hair needs shampoo.

I need you like an insectivorous plant needs bugs.

I need you like Japanese seaweed needs Japan.

I need you like a kneecap needs legs.

I need you like a black-backed gull needs fish.

I need you like a new-born mammal needs milk.

I need you like a squirrel needs nuts.

I need you like an octopus needs four pairs of socks.

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School poem created with Laura Mucha

Because We Can

We are like cats doing doggy paddle, dogs playing with their toys, horses chasing humans for their food, bears scratching their backs against barks and d n i g

n because we like to jam, because we’re happy, because we can.

We are also like a giant water lily, an ominous dominant monster, we pierce with thorns, wield our clubs, grow and go to endless extents to crush, impale, push aside because we don’t give a d*mn, because we’re greedy, because we can.

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School poem created with Laura Mucha

I Am

I am funky as a fox and as dull as dust

I’m as calm as the trees and as lively as a gust

I’m as warm as the sand and as icy as wind

I’m as gentle as grass and as harsh as a sting

I’m as tangled as a bush and as free as a bee

I’m as clear as glass and people see through me

I’m as small as a tick and as big as a why

I’m all of these things at once…

I’m as capable as the sky.

Tennyson Road Primary School

poem created with Adisa the Verbalizer

Nature’s Poem

The colossal emerald grass points to the sky like spears, Out to the shining sky, like warriors pointing with spears, While the monument is a rocket ready to fly to space. As the pole shines with boldness across the sky, The bench is a rocking horse in the wind. The stiff black concrete lays still as ice, While the naked trees dance like ballerinas in a show. The monument stands still, pointing to the sky like javelins, While the swing swings into doom like an anaconda. The seesaw is as sharp as a mountain, While the slide unleashes its tongue to Earth. The grass dances like ballerinas And the tyre spins like a headache And boom, there goes my imagination!

Tennyson Road Primary School

poem created with Adisa the Verbalizer

The Park

I play in the climbing frame that looks like a snake, While the tree is as thick as five sandwiches on top of a stake. The trees all have spiky branches, the cold wind sways them calmly. The slide, like a slippery snake, looks at the wet, sticky spider web As it moves up and down

While children cheerfully laugh. The roundabout is like in space, When the planets go around at the same pace. The lamppost is as big as a tree, Standing high on top with lots of glee. A brown tree is a bony hand, The bony fingers are a super rocket ship that can take you anywhere:

To candy and to Mars, To the world of gaming, Even the world where dreams come true. The park is the best. I also want you to confess That this park is the best.

Tennyson Road Primary School

poem created with Adisa the Verbalizer

Joy and Miserable Life

The slithering slide is a red snake, And the swinging spider web flies up and down in the clouds. The tree of life stands tall and proud, As it looks like it’s getting an award. As it looks like it’s getting closer to eat your soul.

The children shout loudly in joy, As the grand, miserable parents stare at the statue of a missile. Nothing more than a small tour Of the home of the tree’s faith. This is a cane that spins super-fast.

The joyful kids play and slip and slide, While the parents join in with a wild smile. The monument is a volcano that all look at In fear and memory.

The wind whooshing, The trees flowing, What happens next?

The destructive lightning, The buildings destroyed. Stop. Just stop.

The narrator stops. Everything is destroyed. The tree stood as a magical lizard, Adding strength to all.

Tennyson Road Primary School

poem created with Adisa the Verbalizer

The Park

The climbing bars are a huge snake

In the cold hard desert in the middle of nowhere. The bench is as old as 1910

And the statue is a colossal concrete mountain. The birds sing their own magical melody.

The naked trees unfold their mighty, glorious hands, While others stand as firm as knights.

The grass is stiffer than the cold, hard, ancient stone, While the sacred swing is flinging people to heaven. With the help of the wind, the grass dances like ballerinas. All this splendour envelops the world, Making it more beautiful.

This what we call spring.

Tennyson Road Primary School

poem created with John Hegley

Leaves

Envy

Apples

For now

Fragile

Elegant

Utterly amazing

Impeccable-

Looking

Leaf

Evolves

Living

Insects

Secretly

Crawling

Tall

Relative-

Eating

Evergreen

University of Bedfordshire Saturday Club poem created with Kat François

Connection

Life is the memories locked away in a box like a moment trapped in a loop crossing out words engraved in ink no time to pause, no time to think

Personal and creative in its own ways life is the linking of two hands the serene drawings of a quiet morning hoping for a better day, a better story

Life is like the ocean most of it is unexpected it can be abused and hated or it can be loved and wasted

Life is like the momentous cities the place for repetitive routines it is the dull cauldron for creation life is like plain paper before creation

Life for us is socialising through games life without nature is like a tree with no leaves life without nature is like a pen with no ink life for us is about being free letting go of corrupted emotions accomplishing goals is when you obtain real happiness

Family, the one heart no one can break simple satisfaction taken for granted singing songs to express our desire to live we shall find the light as long as we keep breathing we are the light we are the sweets that make us pucker we are the music we play when sad we are the moon and all it represents

Poems from Schools in Hull

Clifton Primary School

poem created with Jay Mitra

Nature

Tree branches swaying like ballerinas

Our tears are like the ocean

You can be friends with nature

Just be one with nature

Grow up along with nature

Sing like the wind

The trees are important to us

The trees give us oxygen to breathe

Save the rainforest, it is our lungs

Life is a puzzle, and we are a piece of it

We are all unique and the universe would be boring

If we were all the same

We are stars that shine brighter together

If we were never made

The whole universe wouldn’t be the same

We are made of our parents’ love

We are made of happiness and friendship

We are made of my mum’s laugh

We are made of my dad’s personality

We are made of brightness

And if you don’t believe in yourself

Then neither will anyone else.

Open your wings and fly towards dreams

That can become your future

Clifton Primary School

poem created with Jay Mitra

The Bird

My heartbeat is like a drum

In the music of our life

We are part of the universe We are made of star stuff

There once was a bird that could not fly But he dug deep down and survived And carried on with his life

We are flowers and beauty

The world around us

Our dreams help us fly

Don’t let your dream die

Collingwood Primary School

poem created with Jay Mitra

Universal Habitat

The clouds are fluffy like candyfloss bursting in the sky. Rising ashes are charcoal birds and the saffron sun burns above us.

Our arms are fawn branches off a flesh and bone tree raindrops fall and slowly slip off our leaves like bombs falling out of the Luftwaffe.

The waves wash on the saffron sand with a gentle touch. The scorching sun tastes like sweat. The cool breeze swishes the grass back and forth.

Her heartbeat is like thunder

Her hair a tamed forest

Her eyes a meteor.

Play with your hair

Heaven is over our heads so don’t feel despair.

Angel wings are the colour of white bread and rice.

The ability to fly in the night sky tastes like freedom. Looking at the rising and falling cosmos feels like joy.

Space will always be in our hearts no matter what we do. The stars shine bright even in our darkest moments.

Collingwood Primary School

poem created with Jay Mitra

About Us

I am the ultramarine in the dark sky, The universe is the future, so patience is key, The stars connect us as humans and brighten us up Like a lantern. The universe is set in my eyes. When light hits my fawn irises, they turn crimson like Mars. I am the shining stars in the sky, And the azure sky is like a nebula, I am the glistening spectacle in the water, The fawn brown bark is just like me When I was young and climbing a tree, There’s violet lightning on our eyelids, Freckles are amber stars on our face and arms, The bruise on our hands is a sunset sky, Life is achieving what your imagination wants you to do, Try to connect your nature with Nature Or you won’t succeed in life, Flowers are the key to paradise, Heaven is a place where we meet our loved ones.

Dorchester Primary School

poem created with Joe Hakim

We Are One

We are the treasure troves of history. We are the authors of creativity. We are the authors of excitement And happiness, and Our souls are our pencils. Our generation is the future and Our destiny is our imagination. Nothing is impossible, Nothing is out of reach. Chase shooting stars, There are no limits in life. Our hearts shine like LEDs; They will warm you like sunshine. Minds the size of Jupiter, Beautiful brains like coral in the ocean. Never give up, be confident and We can touch the clouds together if we try. Start small like Mercury

And you will become as big as the Sun. We are all special, We are one.

Dorchester Primary School

poem created with Joe Hakim

We All Fit In

It’s OK not to fit in When you were born to stand out. The sun is a spoonful of honey, The moon is like a fluffy cloud and We are rocks dancing around the Milky Way. Our brains are jars of memories, Gravity grounds us to home and Space is the glue that holds us together. Our freckles are like stars and Together, our hearts make us one big universe. We add together like a puzzle, Whispering like a clock ticking. We are part of humankind And we are part of Earth like bricks in a wall. Blood flowing through us like streams flowing through the earth, One of many, like waves in the ocean, colossal and blue, Tears as salty as the sea.

Mountbatten Primary School

poem created with Jodie Russi-Red

We’re Connected

We’re both connected, you and me trace back a million years of our family tree and everything our distant ancestors did is imprinted in us an echo of a DNA memory

everything they achieved, I feel like I did it too and since we’re all connected, that means so did you

one time I fought the most scalding fire, dangerous as a difficult maths question, when you’ve almost run out of time one time I crafted the first mighty hammer, as hard as a diamond mine one time I threw the first spear, faster than a Formula One car

I was the one who discovered Spain, as hot as it was far one time I created the first motorbike, as pretty as a puppy with puppy-dog eyes

and it was me who harnessed electricity, as shocking as a startling surprise one time I fired the first deadly arrows, as dangerous as a pack of wolves, hackles up to fight years later I built the first racing car, as silver as the full moon at night I was the person who built the first stone wall, as ancient and as strong as a henge one time I built a house to live in, and then I rebuilt and rebuilt it again in another life I wrote your library’s very first book, longer than an anaconda snake another time I created the first chocolate bar, as delicious as a banana cake and just the other week, I got over my fear and did a jump on my bike I reached 4000 points on Fortnite and I climbed Scafell Pike I did a handstand for 10 seconds straight, and I can do it again I think that’s a pretty big achievement, considering I’m only 10.

Mountbatten Primary School

poem created with Jodie Russi-Red

About Us

We’re both connected, you and me trace back a million years of our family tree and everything our distant ancestors did is imprinted in us an echo of a DNA memory everything they achieved, I feel like I did it too and since we’re all connected, that means so did you

in a different age, I could make fire out of stones and sticks in a different time, I used a rose thorn as a sharp toothpick I built great things out of stone, in the stone age and it was me who wrote on the very first page one time I had a different mother another time I had a different brother

I once joined the military and added a thousand new definitions to the dictionary thousands of years ago I invented chess

I was the world’s greatest ever grand master no less I broke a bone

I broke someone else’s bone

I ate meat straight off the bone one time I swam in the deep, blue sea, alone it was me who ground down wheat into flour and it was me who took the first electric power shower one time I threw a glitter bomb in my friend’s face

I travelled 10,000 miles to discover an undiscovered place one time I popped the first ever balloon, as loud as the Big Bang’s roar

one time I fought in a world-wide war

I discovered a fossil

I was a fossil

one time I made my own bed

one time I annoyed my sister

one time I played a game I didn’t know how to play

But that’s just me

what’s the greatest thing you’ll do one day?

Oldfleet Primary School

poem created with Joe Hakim

Be Yourself

Like a herd of DEER, Like a pack of wolves, Like a school of fish, Like a murder of crows, Like a pride of lions, Connect to who you love. Love makes a family

Grow together like a garden of flowers. Be curious, conquer your fears and follow your imagination, Don’t stop until you reach the summit. Life is short like blades of grass, But dreams are unlimited. Be bright and twinkle like the star you are Until happiness fills the sky. Be yourself,

Be the best you can be, And if you don’t succeed at first, Be positive when faced with difficulty And you will get to the top. Stand on your toes, Hop and touch the moon.

Oldfleet Primary School

poem created with Joe Hakim

A Million Likes

Be kind: Don’t be a bully, Don’t be mean and leave a bad taste like mustard. A smile could change Someone’s day, so Stretch happiness around the World like a bungee cord.

Family is the key to happiness, Friends make you thankful. Passion is our future, And like the population, It grows every day. Like baby-chicks, Like flowers In the sun and rain. Like us.

Everyone is unique, Like our accents, Our personalities. We don’t give up And we work as a team To accomplish our dreams. We play the game of life Together and make the Earth’s heart grow, Like a YouTube video with A million ‘Likes’.

Priory Primary School

poem created with Katherine Horrex

Space Fair

Roll up! Roll up!

Welcome to our planet of moons!

Chips as salty as the sea, milkshake as frothy as the stars!

Let long streets of ketchup flow along your tongue.

Roll up! Roll up!

Welcome to our cratered lava plains!

Feel the cold metal of our claw machines, the deep whoosh of trampolines. The night’s giant megaphone, blasting!

Roll up! Roll up! Never mind the queues!

Watch rides burst into the sky like fireworks.

Priory Primary School

poem created with Katherine Horrex

Homesick Alien

This planet is as boring as disconnected Wi-Fi. Earth. It smells of mud. A matter of life. I miss my planet with its harmless rainbow lava. We had to drink it too.

It’s springtime here. And what is spring? Is it the time of springs? Do humans bounce with slinkies attached to their shoes? There are flowers at the roadside, their petals white as chilled milk. I walk down this street as heavy as four houses missing my hoverboard and wanting to eat pasta all day long. The chocolate chip mountains where rock cats curl up like crescent moons and yawn their lives away. Planet Exo123 where you can use rocks as walkie-talkies and it rains sheets of glass and hot ash. The high streets with their shops like midget gems. Black craters fry and smoulder in sunlight. Here I can’t sleep at night. Wind bangs on the windows, which is why they call them wind-ows. By the time I find my spaceship it will be covered in leaves as crunchy as Walkers crisps. Walkers – they eat them while they walk.

Rokeby Park Primary School

poem created with Michael Good

We Are All Stars

The glimmering mirror of the stars reflected on the glowing diamond moon, The sun is an electric star, The moon is a giant. My connection is to the universe. Crystal clear galaxies shine bright in the moonlight, atoms create all life, No matter what you are or who you are. You are all a shining star, Our connection to the universe is great.

The sun is a flaming ball floating in the air, connecting to Earth, The sun is a flame while Earth is hot and cold. Burning embers levitate above the atmosphere, catching Stardust as it oscillates.

How are we related to these astronomical galaxies?

We are all stars and it’s crystal clear to me: Our connection is confusing yet amazing, Historical yet brand new –We are all stars.

The galaxy is filled with mechanical birds. The galaxy is like little fireballs scorching anyone who dares to come near them.

The sun is levitating bright, like a burning, boiling ball, blinding the population.

The dazzling sun’s brightness is blinding. The historical stars lit up like a bonfire on New Year’s Eve. The incredible sight of the stars lighting up the faces of Earth. While the stars dance in the sky, a satellite is passing by The sun, and lights up like a million diamonds.

The sun shines through the moon and lights the galaxy. Supernovae are incredible. The flaming arrows around the sun connect Earth to the sky. While the stars dance in the sky, and crystals pass by, The hypnotising, gorgeous sun blinds the shimmering, colourful sight of Earth.

The amazing, delightful, dazzling stars hypnotises people’s sight. Satellites float all around, waving like human beings while stars shine like diamonds.

My connection is the blinding universe, Little torches scattered around, Boiling hot like a fire.

The stars are diamonds hanging in the sky: people reflect them in their eyes.

St George’s Primary School

poem created with Jodie Russi-Red

One Time

We’re both connected, you and me trace back a million years of our family tree and everything our distant ancestors did is imprinted in us an echo of a DNA memory everything they achieved, I feel like I did it too and since we’re all connected, that means so did you

one time I could spark a fire with nothing but sticks and stones another time I made a milkshake, as creamy and thick as snow one time I began Hull Fair so I could ride all the rides at night and another time I made the first gun, fast as a flash of light

did you know I carved the world’s very first wheel from stone, as if I was helping a snake shed its skin? in another life I invented the PS4, and the PS5, and the Xbox Series X, and built a race car, and created paper, and a recycling bin one time I built a jet that soared through the air like a balloon then there was the time I built a boat and carried it out to sea to sail for miles and miles just to discover somewhere new

maybe it was a dream, when I tamed a white mouse as fluffy as a bubble bath

I was definitely dreaming when I wrote the story about watching a cow jump over the moon and laugh it was me who once baked the first loaf of bread, as crusty as the earth beneath the layer of mud

one time I studied for hours and hours, it was as boring as looking for waves in the wood one time I helped build an entire village with my own bare hands and in that village, I built a house, as cosy as a cloud in a candyfloss land

I might decide to grow my hair one day, as long as the books by my bed or else I could design a robot that could design a new, wonderful world, instead but do you know that last week I threw a basketball in the hoop, and caught it from the other side? I think that’s a pretty big achievement

(PS I’m only ten)

St George’s Primary School poem created with Jodie Russi-Red

This is About Us

We’re both connected, you and me trace back a million years of our family tree and everything our distant ancestors did is imprinted in us an echo of a DNA memory everything they achieved, I feel like I did it too and since we’re all connected, that means so did you

the earliest time I remember, I created the very first words then alone, I climbed a mountain, as high as the birds one time I taught the first parrot to speak out loud one time I sewed a glittering Cinderella dress, as fluffy as a cotton candy cloud to cure my boredom, I thought up Wi-Fi, and laptops, phones, the Xbox and games I created all the book characters and gave them names I baked the first cupcakes that were as fluffy as my teddy bear there was the time I invented the internet, but now everyone’s just mean on there

there was the time I competed in the Olympics, which was as scary as a dark nightmare I tamed the first wolf until my hands had scratches and wounds everywhere as sonic as a hedgehog, I made the first electric sound waves did I tell you about the time I had a pet dinosaur, as cute as a puppy with a waggly tail? did I tell you about the time I lifted Excalibur from the stone with everyone chanting my name? or the time I scored the winning goal in the first World Cup football game? don’t forget that it was me who thwarted Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo but before that, as boring as a spelling test, I set up the first school, too but in this year alone, I got revenge on my bully, I even won Man of the Match I earned a taking part medal in a race where I came last

I feel kinda proud of myself, so much so that I’m glowing imagine what I’ll achieve once I really get going.

Stoneferry Primary School

poem created with Michael Good

Connections

My connection is the invisible chain keeping us on the ground called gravity. Connections are oxygen to help us breathe. I am connected by the floating, shiny satellite, The technology that we see, look at, and use every day to give us answers.

My connection is watching the stars dance across the sky, Holding hands and galloping through galaxies, The unstoppable constellation in the creamy night sky, The linked stars that create bright light in the night.

My connection is the sun’s brightness. The moon’s darkness, How it pulls the tides.

Connections are made in seconds, like when a star dies and another is born.

We are all connections to the Earth and solar system. We connect to all matter of space and the planets, because this is us!

The Parks Academy

poem created with Cassandra Parkin

Something You Should Know About Me

I can fly to the sky, very high

I am as super-fast as a cheetah

I am Lionel Messi

I am a dog with confidence

I can fly with red wings

I can be invisible when I want to

I am the best striker in the world

I can fly to the moon and see the pretty stars of the night

I have laser eyes

I can turn into a dragon and take the solar system

I can talk to animals

I can walk on water

I can talk to horses

I can heal animals

I can make myself invisible before I touch the stars

I can become a fox

I can turn into any extinct or alive animal

I can turn into a dinosaur

The Parks Academy poem created with Cassandra Parkin

Something You Should Know About Me

I can roar like a tiger at night

I can touch the glistening stars

I can run like a flash in the light

I can backflip off my shed

I can manipulate time

I can move stuff around with my mind

I can freeze time by looking through black eyes

I can teleport to different places

I can fly

I can reverse time

I can turn into a blob of jelly

I can turn invisible

I am a vampire

I sleep in the day and wake at night

I have supersonic hearing

I can walk through things

I can teleport

I can grow things

Wansbeck Primary School

poem created with Cassandra Parkin

Something You Should Know About Me

When I go to sleep, I could touch the moon

We are monkeys swinging through the night, wondering where we will go next

I am able to shape-shift

I am a wolf as I howl at my brother

I am scary by being quiet

I can fly and go to Mars and Jupiter

When I am sleeping, I visit my Great Grandma in Heaven, where we are angels and roam around together

I know what everybody’s thinking about when I am in the same room

I can stroke the wolves as I sleep

I am like a buzzy bee – I sting you when you are in my way

I am secretly a lion

I am the sign of the fish

Wansbeck Primary School

poem created with Cassandra Parkin

Something You Should Know About Me

I can transform into animals

I can turn into a rock to get away from the darkness

I make dreams happen

I can fly a jet

I can turn into a pizza

I can turn into a burrito

I can turn into a burger

I can turn into anything

I can hear anything

I can fly

I can be invisible, and run to Spain

I can fly to the moon and back

I wish I could fly, high, high, and touch the sky

I can get any superpower I think of with one bang of my staff

I can talk to animals and understand them

If I was a shapeshifter, I would be a dragon soaring through the night sky

Or the kraken where the water would be my home

I could be anything, anytime, anywhere

I can turn into a dog

I can change gears on my body to go faster

When I close my eyes, time freezes

I can turn into a fennec fox

I can turn into a donkey

I can turn into a fish

I can turn into an ice fairy

I can control the country

The Contributors

The following poets contributed generously to the About Us project by creating commissioned pieces for the live show and for education resources, judging the young people’s poetry competition, translating work, and delivering workshops in schools: Abby Oliveira ·

Adisa the Verbalizer · Áine Ní Ghlinn · Alan McClure

· Anni Llŷn · Branwen Haf Williams · Caleb Parkin ·

Cassandra Parkin · Charles Lang · Cheryl Moskowitz ·

clare e. potter · Dan Simpson · Elizabeth Lynch · Gazelle

Mba · Gruffudd Owen · Grug Muse · Ian Macartney ·

Ifor ap Glyn · Imogen Stirling · Isla Keesje Davidson ·

Jack Cooper · Jane Hills · Jason Allen-Paisant · Jay

Mitra · Jen Hadfield · Jessica Murrain · Jodie Russi-

Red · Joe Hakim · John Hegley · Joshua Seigal · Kat

François · Katherine Horrex · Kathleen Jamie · Keith

Jarrett · Kevin Gilday · Khairani Barokka · Laura Mucha

· Lewis Buxton · Llewelyn Hopwood · Llŷr Gwyn Lewis ·

Maria McManus · Michael Good · Mícheál McCann ·

Miriam Elin Jones · Phoebe Thomson · Rachel Plummer

· Rakaya Fetuga · Sairah Ahsan · Scarlett Ward-

Bennett · Sian Northey · Simon Armitage · Stephen

Sexton · Tawona Sitholé · Zohab Zee Khan

The winners of the young poets’ competition:

Aashka Vardhman · April Egan · Awyr · Charlotte

Gage · Dillon Watt · Elsie Hayward · Etta O’Flaherty

Jones · Faith Lydall · Filippo Rossi · Florence Hall ·

Freya Leech · Jasmine Haynes · Jhermayne Ubalde ·

Kaila Patterson · Laiba Yousuf · Leonie Hanan · Logan

Smith · Martha Blue · Meredydd Davies · Missy Ashiru

· Neda Aryan · Varad Toke

From Renfrewshire, Derry-Londonderry, Caernarfon, Luton, Hull and Tower Hamlets, the students of:

Bishopton Primary School · Bridge of Weir Primary School · Bushmead Primary School · Chiltern Academy

· CHUMS · Clifton Primary School · Cochrane Castle

Primary School · Collingwood Primary School ·

Dorchester Primary School · Fordbank Primary School

· Gaelscoil Éadain Mhóir · Heriot Primary School ·

Howwood Primary School · Long Tower Primary School

Luton Sixth Form College · Model Primary School ·

Mossvale Primary School · Mountbatten Primary School · Oakgrove Integrated Primary School ·

Oldfleet Primary School · Osmani Primary School ·

Priory Primary School · Revoluton Arts · Riverbrae School · Rokeby Park Primary School · Rosemount

Primary School · St Eugene’s Primary School · St

George’s Primary School · St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School · St Oliver Plunkett Primary School · St Paul’s

Primary School· Steelstown Primary School · Stoneferry

Primary School · Tennyson Road Primary School · The Parks Academy · Thomas Buxton Primary School ·

University of Bedfordshire Saturday Club · Wansbeck

Primary School · West Primary School · West Hill

Primary School · Woodlands Primary School · Ysgol

Gynradd Bontnewydd · Ysgol y Gelli · Ysgol yr Hendre ·

Ysgol Gynradd Llandwrog · Ysgol Gynradd Maesincla ·

Ysgol Gynradd Rhosgadfan · Ysgol Gynradd Rhostryfan

· Ysgol Santes Helen

Young People and Schools

Further Poetry Opportunities for

The Poetry Society offers lots of ways for young people to engage with writing for the page or exploring spoken word. Follow us on Twitter @poetryeducation or sign up to our schools e-bulletin by emailing educationadmin@poetrysociety.org.uk

For Young People

The Poetry Society’s Young Poets of the Year Award is one of the largest and most prestigious poetry competitions for young people aged 11-17 anywhere in the world. It has shaped the careers of many of our best-loved poets writing today. Running annually, the competition accepts poems on any subject and in any form. You can win amazing prizes, including goodies, mentoring, and further talent development opportunities. poetrysociety.org.uk/education

If you’re a young person who enjoys creative writing, check out Young Poets Network, The Poetry Society’s free online platform for poets worldwide up to the age of 25. It’s for everyone interested in poets and poetry – whether you’ve just started out or you’re a seasoned reader and writer. You’ll find features, challenges, and competitions to inspire your own writing, as well as new writing from young poets, and advice and guidance from the rising and established stars of the poetry scene. youngpoetsnetwork.org.uk Facebook/ Twitter @youngpoetsnet

Aspiring writers and poetry enthusiasts aged 11–18 can also purchase Poetry Society Youth Membership. Young members receive poetry goodies, discounts towards opportunities for feedback, The Poetry Society’s newspaper Poetry News, and other benefits. poetrysociety.org.uk/membership

For Schools

School membership connects your school with all that poetry has to offer. School members receive books, resource, posters, Poetry News and our internationally acclaimed quarterly poetry magazine The Poetry Review (secondary only). Schools also have access to our Poets in Schools service and to regular online CPD sessions via our poet-teacher network, Cloud Chamber. poetrysociety.org.uk/membership

Poetryclass teaching resources, lesson plans, and activities, covering all ages and exploring many themes and forms of poetry, are easy to search and free to download. Each resource has been created by our team of poet-educators and teachers, with handson experience of developing an enthusiasm for poetry in the classroom. resources.poetrysociety.org.uk

Poets in Schools help develop an understanding of and enthusiasm for poetry across all ages. The Poetry Society arranges for poets to visit schools and deliver one-off workshops, long-term residencies, INSET sessions for staff, and poet-led assemblies. Online and in-person options available. poetrysociety.org.uk/ education/poets-in-schools

Acknowledgements

The Poetry Society is deeply grateful to everyone who helped make About Us a success. Our especial thanks go to UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, whose generous R&D process generated the blue-sky thinking that dreamt this project into being, and from whose continued support we have been lucky to benefit. We have had the privilege of working with two exceptional partners, 59 Productions and Stemettes, whose brilliance, enthusiasm and tenacity gave the project such a strong foundation.

We thank all the many poets who worked on this project: in particular, the poets whose commissioned work appears in this anthology, the team of judges who selected the young winners of the competition, and the poets who delivered workshops in schools across the UK, helping create poems written by primary school children.

We are indebted to all the scientists and creatives who worked on the project: the video designers, production crew, illustrators, sound artists, producers, translators, STEAM role models, PR consultants and many more. In particular, Bla Translation have been an invaluable and reliable source of advice – diolch yn fawr.

Thanks to all the choir members and local residents who sat for living portraits that were so important in bringing the show to life in each location. And thank you to all the local stakeholders from Councils, LCEPs and

other networks, who helped recruit schools and poets and were champions for About Us from its inception. Further afield, we are grateful to the British Council for supporting the international aspect of the project.

An enormous and heartfelt thank you to every school, community group, teacher and youth leader who has worked so tirelessly to help bring poetry into your settings.

And, of course, we applaud the enthusiasm and talent of every young person who has taken part in this project: the entrants to, and winners of, the poetry and coding competition, and the young people of Renfrewshire, Derry-Londonderry, Caernarfon, Luton and Hull, who so generously shared their creativity with us.

‘From star to tree thought to thumb to bright screen; subterranean cable, humming street cabinet, exchange –our medium is light’

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‘Lightly is the Language’

Stephen Sexton