Learning to Fly

Stand
and reach your arms out wide.
Just close your eyes
and let go.

by Alexandra

Rugby

Don't run backwards,
don't pass forwards,
do the donkey work,
score a try,
pass the ball,
kick the ball for posts,
forwards ruck.
Backs run,
run to the corner flag,
win the league,
win the cup.
Another in the bag.

by John

Happiness

I'm like a gleeful elephant
flopping along in a lake.

I'm like a cup of hot chocolate
spilling over the brim.

I'm like a newborn baby
ready to explore life.

I'm like a million years
of a lifetime.

by Nina

Grainne Tobin has poem "Highly Commended"

Callan

Where did the river go?
No thought of maps.
I saw myself astray,
following the banks and eddies
beyond the weir and into depths
among cow-parsley and couch grass,
meadowsweet and marsh marigold,
puddling on past hoof-printed cattle paths
round every corner out of sight,
winding to the horizon,
the water moving beside me,
muscular and opaque,
shouldering its mirror of sky-shadows,
and alders dipping tenderly
like long hair washed
in the big sink
on Saturday nights.

The Poet-Tree

Grainne Tobin has won a Highly Commended Award in the BBC/WELB Poet-Tree competition. Millions of congratulations.

Our Fiona being Famous

The work of Shimna Old Scholar Fiona Elshotz has been commissioned as the sleeve illustration on a new collection of poems, launched recently in Strangford. This commission represents a fabulous opportunity for a young artist to build up her portfolio and to bring her work to a wider audience. Fiona is currently studying at art college in Glasgow.

Alex and Becki

Imagine America

Imagine America like
a summer carnival
a cool smooth cocktail
like blosson scent
like a voice that sounds like the storm
to dance like it's night time
like taking this black heart
like words could be every wet puddle
to live life immensely

Alexandra McCauley



Invalid Message

A black day
a red rose
I love you.
Care?
Rip
it,
kid.

Becki Wilson