For example, one of my poems goes like this (it's on my website and in 'Even My Ears are Smiling' (Bloomsbury Children's Books):
he Child Who Was Wild
Once there was a woman, a young, young woman
She ran from the city, the old, old city
She ran to the woods, the deep dark woods
She ran from the city, the old, old city
She ran to the woods, the deep dark woods
She wasn’t seen for days. Days, weeks and months.
She came out of the woods, the deep dark woods
She came with a child, a child who was wild.
She came out of the woods, the deep dark woods
She came with a child, a child who was wild.
She brought the child to the city, the old, old city
He grew and he grew and he grew and he grew
Out of his hands grew shoots: green shoots and leaves
Out of his shoulders grew the lily and the rose
His hair was the blossom that blows in the wind,
He stood in the city, the old, old city
with the leaves and the flowers and the blossom
falling, falling, falling on grey, grey gravel.
He grew and he grew and he grew and he grew
Out of his hands grew shoots: green shoots and leaves
Out of his shoulders grew the lily and the rose
His hair was the blossom that blows in the wind,
He stood in the city, the old, old city
with the leaves and the flowers and the blossom
falling, falling, falling on grey, grey gravel.
I then ask the children to talk to each other about anything that comes to mind. I suggest that they might have some questions to ask about the woman, the woods, the child, the city, the flowers. Why not talk about them?
I then suggest that they could write a monologue in the voice of the child.
Here are some questions to think about:
what have you seen?
what have you heard?
what do you think of your mother
what do you think of the woods?
what do you think of the city?
what do you think of your life?
Talk to each other about that.
Write on your own or in pairs.
We share what people have written.
We share what people have written.
