Rob Gainer, of Warwick Writing Programme and facilitator of an interative writing workshop at Words 4 Wellbeing, led a poetry session in nature, which used Tocil Wood as inspiration for this collaborative poem.

Tocil Wood in Late June

A company of greenery, the warmth of the sun

Surround us, we hear a breath of wind softly spoken,

Yet find everywhere motionless and ablaze with vigour:

A sunny patch is rolling waves of wind.

Yearning for naked freedom and nature’s heir,

 

the wetlands slow us down, leaves marked

By an insignia, sanctuaries for all.

Bird sounds, like music,

Cast musical notes and motes of light

Onto the yielding grave of leaves, long fallen,

 

our strides measured in the cushioned crunch

of mulch and crack of twig. To this life we cling

as branches to our tether, our pool of bliss

among the tangle: an amphitheatre for nature,

where egos never venture.