Wandering Words | A poetic walk across Swale
In August 2015 we were delighted to work with Ideas Test on a Clore Poetry and Literature Award Funded project that enabled us to undertake a walk across Swale with a group of young poets. We based ourselves in a beautiful campsite in Doddington, not far from Sittingbourne and from here ventured out to explore the very different landscapes and communities that exist in Swale.
Walks were lead by Michael James Parker, a poet and adventurer and we were also joined by sound artist Peter Cook and our film-maker Raphael Klatzko.
We explored Chatham and walked through the industrial landscape out across the marshes and creek land to Sittingbourne; we wandered and explored the Isle of Sheppey and walked along the Milton Creek. We met with people and communities along the way and shared the poetry we wrote that had been inspired by our walks.
“I found Wandering Words to be one of the most challenging yet WONDER-filled experiences I have ever taken part in” Elle Payne
“I was surprised at how well I connected to other people through the mediums of nature, walking and poetry. I like to think I am quite the concrete fellow, think of that what you will, but I found myself really listening and understanding people, poetry and nature around me in a way I could never have done by myself.” Alex Vellis
Listen to the Soundscape of Wandering Words
You can here a Soundscape of our Wandering Words created by sound artists Peter Cook who gathered sounds from the natural landscape and our poets thoughts along the way.A Few Images of the Wonders on our Wanders
A Poem by Deke Dobson
Time to sit back,
Sip the water from my pack,
Take in the sights & sounds,
Relax,
Watch the wind,
Whistle through the reads,
Thoughts come with ease,
Peace,
Stepping on stones,
With my seed,
Time well spent,
Family,
Collecting shells,
Under the big sky,
As the clouds drift by,
Positive vibes,
And although we got wet,
We held hands,
And got wet together,
Unity,
So tonight in my sleep,
These scenes will visit my dreams,
As I revisit the scene,
Remembering the things that make my heart sing,
Relaxing, peaceful, positive vibes,
United with my family by my side
A Poem by Alex Vellis
I spent my time dancing like castanets were attached to my knees, the breeze from the reeds kicked up by the sea, see me off down the path towards them.
Engorged by them, capillaries break like cresting waves on predestined days designed to let the storm in.
But this heart can’t beat the way it did before him.
So, it ignores him.
Scores out the arterial disappointment of hypoxemia by saying
“I’m just catching my breath”
Even if it means the death of all the good in me.
She grinds my bones to dust, with the lusting untrusting curse of her eyes.
Ataxia graded, hip shaking ground movements improving the distance between us.
She has seen us from all angles, wrapped in star spangled banners that ban her from complaining about the south.
Even after the colonisation of her homeland, she still goes home and claims to be the proof that her roots existed.
Her mother tells the same stories.
Her father bores himself to drink and pores himself a drink.
She draws art in the night sky and reads trite lines of poetry from when she was fourteen and didn’t know if it would become the tree from the seed she had seen planted in scenes of her dreams.
But it grew, as all art should.
And now she is oak chested, and sky resting, and life tested proof!
That when the good in you dies, you find another good.
We are the lovers,
The last of our kind.