Lovely poems by Mr Buchanan, Storrington Primary School

A few weeks ago, I visited the wonderful Storrington Primary School. After one of my performances, the Year 5 teacher, Mr Buchanan, handed me a pamphlet of his own poetry. He told me that he often writes poems relating to the topics being studied in class. I think this is an absolutely brilliant idea, and I'm sure his students get a lot out of it. As you can see, lots of the poems are about science and nature, and I'm really excited to be able to share a few on this here blog. Enjoy!

Foxes

poem moved to website

Riverbank Summer

You’re ott

I’m otter

But who

is the ottest?

Joshua Seigal

Fantastic poems from St Marylebone School

I recently had the pleasure of working with Year 10 students at St Marylebone School in central London. With a view on preparing them for the unseen poetry unit in their GCSE exams, I thought it would be highly beneficial to get them involved in the artistic side of the creative process. With this in mind, we had a look at Billy Collins' famous poem 'On Turning Ten'. In the light of this, I then asked students to think about the notion of growing up, and what it means to them. With her permission, I am very excited to share two poems written by Naomi. I really like the contrast between rhyming and non-rhyming, and in the rhyming poem I am especially impressed with the rhythm and intonation, which is something that is very hard to do. I'm sure you'll agree with me that some of the imagery is absolutely stunning. Well done, Naomi!

Poem #1 by Naomi

I'm going on 16, the road feels wide

A mix of fear and joy inside

The sky is big, the world feels near

But in my heart I hold some fear

Locks and keys and hearts that race

A mirror shows a changing face

Dreams like stars begin to shine 

Some feel far but some feel mine

Soft words, sharp thoughts, louder days 

Learning life in quiet ways 

Not a child, not quite grown 

But walking paths I've never known

Going on 16

A heart still wide open

Chasing the light

In every words spoken 

Poem #2 by Naomi

It blooms like spring

each petal a promise

each moment layered with dreams 

Time unfurls like a ribbon

leadig me through laughter

and the tender ache of goodbyes

I stand at the edge of tomorrow

the world a canvas

ready for splashes of colour

Joy dances in the corners

hope whispers in every heartbeat

growing up feels like taking flight

Darkness, My Old Friend

Crunchie for breakfast

three cups of coffee in bed

still in pyjamas at noon

mop up the sweat with yesterday’s shirt 

radio 4 playing

respond on the phone to emails 

watch the cat sleep

pick up a book but don’t read it 

see if the headlines have changed

they haven’t 

have a bath

have a shower

whatever 

clean up some of the plates in the kitchen

wipe the surfaces a bit

it doesn’t have to be like this

you have choices

but the voices

the voices

the voices

Joshua Seigal 

Quotation

“You never know how strong you are

until being strong is your only choice” - Bob Marley

He didn’t actually say it.

I was looking online for the context

and ChatGPT told me the quotation

was commonly misattributed to Bob Marley.

There is no record of him ever 

having written or uttered those words

in any format at all.

Those ‘inspirational’ Instagram posts

were mere simulacra of sentiment – 

nothing more than bogus, a sham.

No one knows where the quote came from.

Turns out, Bob was not guiding me

through some of my own darkest moments.

He wasn’t holding his hand out to me,

telling me no cry.

It was all just empty words.

But then again, words are all I have,

as Boyzone famously said.

Joshua Seigal