"this is sixth form poetry, not Keats or Yeats"
Your tarnished skin crinkles in the breeze, an ancient husk that juts from the Earth like a withered question mark; interrogating the exuberance that stirs you from your slumber. We crouch, childlike, beneath your broken boughs, callow limbs pawing at flesh As we bore incrementally through your sunken past; …
Beneath Diana’s pale embrace, two moths shimmer in the starlight; waltzing through moonbeams, as they flicker across the cool embrace of noon’s forgotten corsage. Suffused with smoky browns their earthy tones glimmer in the gloom; bellies sticky with the latent gratitude of their unexpectant hosts. Timidly, they retreat into the …
Choking on the excessive vapours Of our abandoned debauchery Your stunted shoots flail awkwardly In artificial chambers of soil and sedge. Your weathered hands Fly too close to the sun, Goaded by an elevated fixation That cannot support the Consequence of its ambition. Meanwhile, beneath a moistened Carpet of shrunken …
Breathe in. Your crown of precious hues Glimmers in the setting sun; A steadfast declaration that Your appearance will not be Ordained by the passing of time. Breathe out. Sunbeams dance mischievously Across your jaded fingers, Casting reverse shadows That shimmer invisibly Across a living canopy. Breathe in. Every mouthful …
You struggle for breath. And reach towards the sun With yellowed fingertips; Stunted roots Can no longer drink The static water that was Once a stream. Your perfectly preserved husk Lies buried; Sheets of glass Protect your shroud from Arctic hare and polar fox; Their footsteps vibrating gently Against …
Beneath the dusty soil and arid earth Your tentacles branch outwards; Driven by an unseen architect To create multifaceted monoliths Of gnarly twine and knotted rope. Your suppurated fingertips Dowse for unseen traces of Ancient reservoirs and Underground lakes, Recklessly reaching through Unseen valleys and hidden troughs. Relentlessly you twist …
With rising heat, the Earth begins to bloom, The emerald hues a fervent sign of spring; And every breath of air that’s taken in, A sweet riposte to poisons we exhume. But now these inhalations come too soon, A portent of the harmful change they bring; With rising heat, …
Amongst the icy peaks and stony seas, We count the plants that call such heights a home; Traversing every sudden gale and breeze, To better understand how they have grown. Across the years of data in this zone, Diversity increased at quickened pace; Accelerating at a speed unknown. So even …
Plant a tree Go Barbados and plant A palm tree Turn the water off Drink booze Take a shower with Someone else Take a shower with Rhianna This is a poem written by a ‘non-expert’, as part of a research project which used poetry to develop dialogue around environmental change. …
Ornate and prized as something grand, We didn’t know what you had planned; The warning signs we did not heed, You suffocate us with your need. With tendrils that spread far and wide, Ensnaring that which once had thrived; Malevolence in every seed, You suffocate us with your need. …