Wild Ideas - creative workshops

A thistle

stands tall

but her head

will barley reach your knee.

Even so

do not stoop down to the floor

for that is just rude.

Tell her she is special

stroke her pretty spikes

smell her budding

flower

even if

she bites your nose.

Never look twice at a

foxglove

daffodil

or a rose

even a daisy is a risk

if you wish

to please a thistle girl.

So never smile

untoward

never pick another flower

kiss her pretty face

and smile as she glowers.

                                    by Lily 

Tell them you don’t mind when they

Gather high above, when they build

Cathedrals of clouds only to destroy

Them hours later when the bottom

Falls out and soaks the ground in rain.

Tell them you don’t mind when they go

On strike and refuse to build even

A single cloud, even though the naked

Blue is so bright you have to squint.

You don’t even mind when they descend

And cloak the hills and trees in

Fog, like the sky has served the soup of the

Day into the bowls of the valleys.

But I do mind when they threaten

To drop a cloudy city onto us for days

But never let it fall, and it never rains.

                                             by Catrin 

The trees stretch out, an arm raised to the sky encircling the circle we have made

The grass is thick, and the air is thin

My heart beats in time with the birds and

I feel a thistle whisper a secret against my exposed skin

The sky is the colour of apathy and the

Clouds are half formed thoughts passing by my eyes

A fly buzzes past my ear and the leaves sigh in the smallest breeze

The low hum of vehicles passes by

But the birds though quieter by a half, drown it out

As though to say you are a guest in my land fly is back.

               by Lily 

You can climb them, 

You can hide in them, 

You can look up into the leaves, 

Enjoy the beauty. 

Notice we all have different perspectives. 

They bring us food, give us oxygen. 

When you are lost 

they guide us in the world. 

                                    by Orla 

Save the trees

I mean they help us breathe! 

Of course the animals next, 

Goldfinches wobbling on gorse 

Owls too tall, banging heads on the box 

Happiness stored inside a single flower 

Could all be lost in the next hour. 

                                                by Eds 

Curtain call

Calls back

The memories of 1594

Reminds me of innocence

Words by a long dead imagination

Calls back to me

And echoes in our landfills

A message in a plastic bottle swallowed by

The greedy sea

Addicted to its death bed and poison levels

Out of my fingertips

It goes cold to the touch into nights air 

                                                      by Lily 

We are being idiotic

It is like we are all constantly drunk.

We’re all aware.

We’re all aware.

We’re all fully aware of the crisis

And we are scared.

But then why aren’t we acting?

We need to act – for the sake of our children and our grandchildren.

For the sake of our creations,

For our own sakes.

So adopt a hedgehog

Report people for littering

Restrict your use of planes.

                                  by Gracie

There are lots of things hidden in a forest, 

the potential for a den,  

the smell of nothing and yet everything. 

The bitter cold that shows you 

how strong you can be. 

Teaming nature. 

                                                  by Wilfred

Cliffs stand tall

Proud bow

Loading the solitary helm

Sea salt spray

Leaping

Smashing

Breaking

Sea crystal orbs

Falling back down

To the sea

Its home

Cliffs dream

Of walking away

Of pulling themselves

From the rock

Free

 Of running

And

Splashing

Like the seagull

Shadow

Cliffs dream of

Ivory sands

See-through blue

Sky

But the waves are

Leaping tall

And soon

There will be no

Cliffs to dream

At all  

      by Lily 

Toothbrushes dream of

the tooth fairy. They dream

of teeth falling out and

flying away from all their

troubles, only to wake up and

do it all over again , and again, and again.

They

dream of keeping bristles tall and white

and straight forever, never to be

tossed away in black bags,

to float onwards on waves of

rubbish and other dreaming

toothbrushes. They don’t dream of

spending forever entangled in

seaweed on some far flung

beach, falling to pieces under the sun. 

                           by Catrin 

Rivers dream of

not being confined

to their banks

but to spill

over the land

Other rivers dream of

being free of all

their worries

their worries about

pollution filling them

                       by Sky 

Hello

This is just to say

I watched the news last night

My carefully smoothed out

creases set upon a dark countertop

and I fixed my attention on the flatscreen

that opens your eyes and blinds your heart.

I see the sea

Sparkling with plastic

I see the trees falling

down,

I see the water rushing in

Forgive me

My crinkled form

crumples in on itself

knowing

it will slowly kill everything around it

A hand reaches out

crumples me up

and I am put in a bin

I await the end;

And the bin men.

                by Lily 

Forgive me

I didn’t mean to drop out the pocket

I didn’t ask the wind to blow

I didn’t know the river was there

I don’t like to block up rivers

Or be swallowed by a fish

Or ruin the pretty view

Please forgive me

I am sorry

It isn’t my fault

          by Sky 

Everyone has a paradise

Be it small

or

Large.

Some like to keep it concealed

others like to flaunt it

like a medal or a trophy wife.

I like to set mine free

release the memories,

scent and colour

the sounds

of the sea

my laughter and white sponge cake

I like to walk into a

room,

breath in one swift breathe

and be caught

unawares

by the smell that transports

me

back

home.

Memories of what was

memories I never wrote

but I knew would happen

if I’d stayed

in my tangible paradise.

                     by Lily 

The sad sound of a violin

A pair of shoes tattered with a hole at the toes

It would be as bitter as 100% chocolate

At sunset but the grey clouds block the colours

It would be a feeling of distress as if you had nowhere to go. 

                    By Thirza

How do we please the hills

Hills stand tall and strong in the greatest storm

It maybe even stands alone

But a storm will always finish

The hills please themselves by staying strong

Sometimes the hills are pleased

When the closest friends they have are trees

Which they invite to a party

Sometimes hills may be

Just too dry and have no friends at all

But the storm helps it on its way

To the party

             by Sky