Inspired by Nature: A Poem of Return
Froglife’s Communications & Fundraising Officer, Ashlea Mawby, felt inspired by the work she does here at Froglife and wrote this poem.
Leaping forward for reptiles and amphibians
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Inspired by Nature: A Poem of Return
Froglife’s Communications & Fundraising Officer, Ashlea Mawby, felt inspired by the work she does here at Froglife and wrote this poem.
by admin
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Inspired by Nature is a themed Croak to entertain you with art and creative writing based on nature and the outdoors. We hope it will stimulate you to get creative and produce something yourself. If you do and would like to share them with us, please post them on our Facebook page, Twitter account, or email us at info@froglife.org
This months feature has been written by Rebecca Neal our Conservation Youth Worker on the Peterborough Green Pathways project, funded by BBC Children in Need.
I love the poet John Clare. Not only does he make my region famous (his home was only a few miles from the Froglife office), but he also wrote a lot about the outdoors. He was inspired by a landscape that still looks similar to what I see on my weekend strolls in the fens.
I came across this fantastic poem by Clare when searching for inspiration for this column. It’s a sonnet, which mean it is written in iambic pentameter (ten syllables with a stress on alternate words: de dum, de dum, de dum, de dum, de dum) and has fourteen lines. It has a non-traditional rhyming scheme for a sonnet whereby pairs of lines rhyme at the end, called “rhyming couplets”. Shakespeare and other famous sonnet writers used a more complex rhyming pattern.
Dyke’s Side
The frog croaks loud and maidens dare not pass
But fear the noisome toad and shun the grass:
And on the sunny banks they dare not go
Where hissing snakes run to the floods below.
The nuthatch noises loud in wood and wild,
Like women turning skreeking to a child.
The schoolboy hears and brushes through the trees
And runs about till drabbled to the knees.
The old hawk winnows round the old crow’s nest:
The schoolboy hears and wonder fills his breast.
He throws his basket down to climb the tree
And wonders what the red blotched eggs can be:
The green woodpecker bounces from the view
And hollos as he buzzes by “kew kew”
John Clare 1793-1864 © Eric Robinson (2016)
I love the fact that this poem has frogs, toads and snakes in it (perhaps I am biased!), and talks about the interaction between nature and people. This loss of this interaction is what Froglife’s education work is trying to address. Even when the interaction is one of fear, at least there is a connection. I also love the language; noisome is a great word, I am now going to try to use more often in everyday conversations! Here is the definitions of some of the more archaic words:
Drabbled: become wet and dirty by movement through muddy water
Skreeking: a high-pitched screeching noise
Winnow: to fan or beat the air with wings
I was inspired by these words to write a short story for my creative writing evening class with as many strange sounding old words as I could fit in. If you are also inspired by John Clare and want to share what you write, please get in touch.
by admin
Inspired by Nature is a themed Croak to entertain you with some of our favourite artwork based on nature and the outdoors. We hope it will stimulate you to get creative and produce something yourself. If you do and would like to share them with us, please post them on our Facebook page, Twitter account, or email us at info@froglife.org
This months feature has been written by Rebecca Neal our Conservation Youth Worker on the Peterborough Green Pathways project, funded by BBC Children in Need.
This poem was inspired by a visit to Olive Branch Community Garden with a group of young people from Ken Stimpson Community School. We spent ages just looking at the frog-frenzy in the pond and listening to the noise the boy frogs were making to attract the girls. We counted at least 300 frogs. We made some acrostic poems (where you use the letters from a word to start each line of a poem) and did some reptile- and amphibian-inspired clay sculptures.
“Brrugh!” said the frog
“Brrrugh!” said the frog, “Come on ladies, get up!”
“The pond is warm, join us in the tub”
“Cwarp!” said the toad “its spring, wake up girls!”
“If you come, we can dance, and I’ll give you a twirl”
“How you doing?” said the newt “Like my aftershave?”
“Let me waft it your way, then we’ll go for a rave”
“Can I rub your back?” said the adder to his misses
“We can tie the knot, and I’ll give you lots of kisses”
“I’ve chased off all the others, so we can be alone.”
“Mrs Lizard, will you join me on this really warm stone?”
“Awesome!” said the child “We should make a movie.”
“Leonardo DiCaprio would make it really groovy
Here is the acrostic written by one of the students:
Frogs
Rocking in the pond
Out
Getting rays of sun
Let’s not forget they also live on land
In the pond they lay their eggs
Fighting for their girls
Everyone loves frogs
We would love to hear about your writing inspired by nature. E-mail us on info@froglife.org, find us on facebook.com/froglife or tweet us @froglifers
by admin
Inspired by Nature is a themed Croak to entertain you with some of our favourite artwork based on nature and the outdoors. We hope it will stimulate you to get creative and produce something yourself. If you do and would like to share them with us, please post them on our Facebook page, Twitter account, or email us at info@froglife.org
This months feature has been written by the poet Keely Mills who worked with Rebecca Neal our Conservation Youth Worker on the Peterborough Green Pathways project, funded by BBC Children in Need.
Digging potatoes and holding frogs
None of us say much,
Questions hang like spider webs in the air,
they can’t catch the answers though.
Just a huh or a maybe.
Its an uncomfortable mood
& it seeps into every move we each make.
Even the fire we light, can’t stay aflame.
We split off, each of us an ember.
I am not sure that it will change.
Nature overtakes any doubt.
Within minutes, we are all digging potatoes.
We take it in turns to collect and wash them.
Back together again.
Choosing which of them we will take.
As if it were ready now, the fire is lit.
It reaches the sky and feeds off our new warmth.
We share cooking duties, stories about school.
Some of us hold tiny frogs,
Make badges and boil a kettle.
After we have eaten.
And the taxi has been called.
Each of us hold onto this green feeling for as long as we can.
Now more than ever, I understand that a bad start,
can be mended with dirt, love and growing.
By Keely Mills
July 2015
Froglife (Head Office)
Brightfield Business Hub
Bakewell Road
Peterborough
PE2 6XU
info@froglife.org
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