The Poets That Didn’t Know It!!!

28 January 2023

We boiled the kettle and poured a cup of tea as we seated ourselves at the table and wondered what this morning’s poetry activity had instore for us.

There were four photographs of the seasons on the table and lots of cut-up words. Our first decision was which photograph we were going to pick. It was an easy pick as we are all longing for summer to return so the beach scene was perfect. Next, we picked out the words that we felt matched the photograph and season. From this, a poem was to be created.

We started by sharing memories of summers gone by. We hoped that it would get our creativity flowing. Margaret shared memories of summer days along the Sussex Coast and playing cricket at the beach hut. Shirley spoke fondly of sunny days, with ice-cold drinks in the garden. It certainly worked as Margaret took the plunge and started us off with the line “Sun, sea, and golden sand between our toes” and before we knew it the poetry was rolling off our tongues. Nora said, “it’s like we are poets that didn’t know it” and that soon became our group name as we laughed about having our poetry published by the end of the year.

Our finished poem is now proudly displayed on our notice board alongside the photo that inspired it and the photo of the ladies that created it. It was a very different morning for us all but one that we enjoyed.