December Poetry Walk

On Sunday 15th December, at 2pm, I'll be setting off with my notebook from the Victoria Road car park in Formby. Please let me know if you would like to join me for an informal walk and a chat about writing and poetry, perhaps looking at some ways in to writing if you're feeling stuck . . . In this inspirational landscape, there's no knowing what words might get up to when you let them out . . . 

Oh and be prepared for any weather!

Limits

When the path dissolves into marsh

a trapped nerve and stiff muscles refuse

the usual upward slopes

forcing me to stop. Stand still.

A crow stuck on the wind pulls my attention

into the sky then down to the horizon

cutting off the blue.

I was heading for the sea

as all the flowers are gone, the dunes down

to shades of green, but now I see

what greens! Dappled and striped

by sun and shadows. As I look

tiny vivid stars, lime bright,

open in the spaces, between layers

of emerald and sage grey, some fading

some unfastening. Everywhere is

becoming more of itself in my eyes

Ainsdale 10th November

November poetry walk

I have never explored the dunes in November, but I will be doing just that on Sunday 10th November. Every visit to the Sefton coast has been full of surprises, so until then I can only imagine what I might discover. The same is true of poems. I can set off feeling I don't have a poem in me, until I am reminded that the landscape is full of poems and I just have to stop, take notice, and capture what I can.

If you would like to join me, I'll be starting from the Ainsdale Discovery Centre at 2pm. You might already be interested in writing or looking for ways to kick-start your creativity. There will be no plan, just time spent exploring the tracks through the dunes and some possible paths into poetry. Bring a notebook in case you are inspired and be prepared for whatever weather decides to turn up!

You can email me at hm.skytree@gmail.com to let me know to expect you, or just turn up.

What had seemed so solid

What had seemed so solid falls away

seeds loosen pulled on threads along winds

plump leaves thin and collapse around their spines

flowers dry into tangle-dotting knots

New gifts appear in the spaces

tiny lizards freed from their spirited eggs

bask in low sun, stalks brandish new colours

flagging change across a mutable blue

What we think we know can easily crumble

and suddenly feel as fragile as shells broken

into sand. Yet sand becomes essential

transfigured by the lizards into wintering burrows

6th October 2019

Expression

Springing up

in the salt-whipped grasses

they come as a shock

rain rolling off

their red wax caps

undaunted

they are pressed out

suddenly into light, statements

easily missed

Others rise straight out of sand

strange and surprising yet

blending with the drift

as if any startle hits only

the sleepwalkers unaware

that wonder is normal here

Expected or not

they free themselves anyway

out of the dark, signalling

threaded roots, a mystery

that must unfold

and have its say

Weather

Every sound is wind

beating my ears

whipping across waves

rattling through grasses.

The sandhills are staggered

between screens of rain

pushing in from the sea.

Rocked by gusts

I sway through

clinging berries and battered

seed heads. The rainclouds

are thrust inland

and sun breaks into the gaps

shining the marram.

The great westerly blow

overpowers each stalk

tough and sharp

laying them in one sheet

of supple ripples.

Gulls struggle seaward

moored in the sky

then loosen and coast

surrendering. I turn

to the sun, it warms

my face, lets shadows

flit across my feet

returns my own shadow

to me, anchored,

a fair weather friend

but welcome.

Ainsdale  6th September

Evening Reflections

I am very happy to be able to share some poetry by Malcolm Terry who came to the Symbols in the Sand event. These are haiku Malcolm wrote on the walk, and to me they truly capture the essence of the landscape that evening. When I read them I'm back there. They also demonstrate beautifully how much can be conveyed in very few words. Thank you Malcolm.


If you would like to share  any of your poetry inspired by the Sefton Dunes, please send it to hm.skytree@gmail.com and I will post it here.

Seeing in a new light

Over the next few weeks I will be setting off on some more  poetry walks. These are scheduled so that people can join me if they wish (and take place alongside impromptu ones that happen when an opportunity arises!)  If you would like to come along, all you will need is a notebook and pen. There will be no plan, we will just be exploring the landscape and seeing what inspiration it brings and considering some ways of capturing it in writing. I believe poetry is for everyone, so it doesn't matter if you love writing already, or have only thought about it. 

You can let me know you're planning to join me by emailing me on hm.skytree@gmail.com so I know to look out for you, or you can just turn up. Be prepared for any weather as my intention is to engage with the coast through the changing seasons.
Poetry is a way of seeing, so even if you are familiar with the dunes you might be surprised how writing can bring new perspectives. If the landscape is new to you, you are in for a treat!

Here are the dates and times of the next three poetry walks:

• Friday 6th September starting from Ainsdale Discovery Centre at 9.30am

• Tuesday 24th September starting from Lifeboat Road car park at 6.00pm

• Sunday 6th October starting from Birkdale Beach car park, Weld Road, at 2.00pm

Thanks to the explorers

I would like to say a warm thank you to those who joined me on the Symbols in the Sand walk. A wet day had turned into a dry, bright evening and as we walked and talked, the light, shadows , and atmosphere of the coast continually changed. We captured our experiences using a variety of poetic forms, and explored writing as a way of connecting with the senses and with place using the advice of Jean Cocteau who said, “The poet does not invent. He listens.” We also looked at how making a poem can fuse our internal and external worlds.Thank you also to Fiona and Andrew who shared their deep knowledge about the dunes and their passion for protecting it.



Symbols in the Sand

I hope you can join us for this free event for adults;  an evening of exploration, poetry, and connection with the beautiful Sefton coast
Please pass on the details to anyone you know who may be interested in coming along, and I look forward to seeing you there . . .

Letting it fall onto the page

Solo

You can come here thinking

you’re on your own

and will find nothing

except the unwanted, a plastic cup,

a bag of dog dirt flung on a pristine sandbank

You can feel you shouldn’t be here

if you come across 

a shirtless man sunbathing.

These things may prompt you to walk faster, deeper

into the dunes, away

yet still without direction.

You don’t know where you are

and at this point you could realise

it’s not a question of finding

but of losing.

The magpie helps with this

watching with a knowing eye

carrying nothing.

He slows you down

as you follow his cryptic route from post to post

Slowing, you see

damp white flowers, grass of parnassus, red clover,

a dragonfly,

another, hear

a flock of little birds curving over the marram

into the low grey green 

then up in a ribbon across the blue.

This is when you might have to remind yourself to breathe

and notice what has fallen away - 
expectations

hopes and doubts

They were only cluttering 

a space which is already full

of everything you could want with you

Tug

Have you ever felt the sea call?
It has a calling voice 

It pulls 

through the brambles that reach 

across the sand paths

through the buckthorn

pumped up with berries

Gulls point the way

over the dunes, a kite

flutters like the teatowel

my mother used to wave

when it was time to come home

Ainsdale 20th August 2019

More beautiful discoveries

I am very pleased to be able to share two pieces by Sue Tippin, inspired by the Discovery Walk in July. One is a reflective poem, the other a piece of micro-fiction which also works as a prose poem - both beautiful . . .

All Change

As we set out on a poetry walk this week, I learned that part of dune management is about allowing movement. There seem to have been times when maintaining stability was seen to be the answer and then recognition that  the opposite is needed - a truth which resonates with me on many levels.

I was struck by other contrasts on the coast that evening; the full dark clouds and the clear space beneath them revealing the extent of the wind farm, the sheltering places of the dunes and the openness of the beach. I noticed the subtle change in sound quality, with the dunes absorbing the sounds which ring along the flat of the shore.

There was plenty of inspiration for writing, and for conversation about poetry - its purposes and effects, ways into making poems, and how we can surprise ourselves with our writing.

the beach is an open hand

lined with its history

reflections in its creases

holding sea and sky

it ages and renews 

allowing whatever comes

and letting it go

At the Tideline

I steadied flight, guided it

along atlantic drifts

supported a body

responded to urgency

then fell.

Floating, free from the grip

of skin, of muscle

with no nerve-harness pulling

or pushing 

I flustered on squalls

until I had to waiver all purpose.

I surrendered under moons

succumbed to tides

became wetted in a strange element

with others who were lost

loosened from their origins

and then it stopped.

Gathered in a line

we are a seam 

between land and shore

fixed or shifting

depending on perspective

the long view or the short.

How we will unravel is a mystery

but this is not as far as I will go

Morning Muses

It was wonderful to be joined on a poetry walk this week by Eileen and Alastair. We shared our impressions of the Birkdale and Ainsdale sandhills as we walked and wondered at what we came across; fascinating plants in various stages of their lifecycle, striking moths and beautiful butterflies. It was a clear morning and from the top of the dunes the horizon was sweeping and the sky vast.

We shared some lovely discussion about poetry and writing, talking about how to get started and what can get in the way, and we stopped to do some free-writing and haiku. A haiku is a three-line poem with a specific syllabic structure. The aim is to capture a moment as it is being experienced; traditionally an encounter with nature. It has been said they are “an opportunity to pause and be present in the detail of the everyday”. They are also like little puzzles, and very satisfying to create.

Thank you so much Eileen and Alastair for your reflections, knowledge, and presence.

Here are Alastair’s haiku as they landed on his page in the dunes - each perfectly capturing a moment . . .

Discovery Poems

One of our group on Saturday’s discovery walk was Des Ney. Des volunteers for the project and his love for the coast, and his knowledge of it, was evident to me as we all explored together. He is inspired by the landscape of the dunes and is so right when he says, “even travelling a short distance can lead to the discovery of new things that evoke different emotions and ideas”. It is clear that Des’s connection with the coast is then conveyed in his poetry, and to me that is what poetry is for - to capture our experiences, whether they move us, mystify us, amuse us, or delight us.

A big thank you to Des for sharing his poems from the walk so that you can read them here . . . 

Beautiful discoveries

Thank you to everyone who joined in the discovery walk on Saturday morning. We took our inspiration from the beautiful Ainsdale dunes and from the wealth of fascinating information provided by Andrew Hampson, Gems in the Dunes Project Officer. He led us to the best places for us to see the dunes’ inhabitants, including great crested newts, and revealed secrets such as what was underneath the polypody fern!

It rained a little but that only added another dimension to this unique landscape, with raindrops rolling on the web of the labyrinth spider and spotting the surface of the ponds. Pausing in some special places to write, there was plenty of lively discussion and laughter, and contemplative moments too. 

When writing together, I always encourage people to write for themselves first and foremost so the words can come freely. Sometimes it feels good to share what you’ve written, and sometimes just hearing your own voice through your writing is enough. Writing can feel freeing and satisfying, and as one of the group said on Saturday - it’s fun!

Find inspiration on a poetry walk

If you're interested in writing, or are looking for some ways to kick start your creativity, please feel free to join me for an informal walk and chat on one of my planned poetry walks. Bring a notebook in case inspiration strikes, or to jot down ideas you might return to later.


You can email me at hm.skytree@gmail.com to let me know to expect you, or just turn up.


Here are the times of my next three planned poetry walks:

Monday 5^th August, starting at Birkdale sandhills carpark at 9am

Wednesday 14^th August, starting at Lifeboat Road carpark at 6pm
Tuesday 20^th August, starting at Ainsdale Discovery Centre at 2pm

Remember also the Facts and Fiction Discovery Walk on Saturday. It would be great to see you there

Zooming out

It was my pleasure to be joined on a poetry walk this week by Mark Shipsides. Mark has a deep connection to the coast  and fascinating insights into the relationship between the landscape and his own story. We touched on some big themes and I want to thank Mark for sharing his thoughts and writing, and inspiring more of my own.

The sea keeps breaking

again and again

cracking open then closing over

Rising muscles split 

into spay

and settle into rolling lines

They whisper in many voices

becoming

one roar

looking like a tide

What we call land

begins in fragments

thrown to shore

A fragile edge

Wind and waves keep pushing

and pulling

the whole into its million parts

then back together

Salt heals 

Seeds gather and root

A semblance of solidity

forms and falls 

and forms again

Gulls may land but not for long

Their world is bigger

than a nest

They know the physics

holding it all

is the only constant