Superm̶a̶r̶k̶e̶t̶Forest Inspired Poems

Superm̶a̶r̶k̶e̶t̶Forest Inspired Poems

Below are poems from St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School, St John the Baptist Junior School and Hampton Hill Junior School. The writings were inspired by a poem called ‘Fishbones Dreaming’ by Matthew Sweeney. As well as looking at plants, the children thought about supermarket produce and its origin. The activity was led by Arji Manuelpillai and Dr Sarah Edwards and you can read more about the project here: Latest post about Young People’s projects.

This project was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). NERC is the driving force of investment in environmental science and is part of UK Research and Innovation. 

Download the poems or read them all below.

 

 

 

Who is this tree for? by the Young People at Heatham House 

It’s medicine not strong enough for the blindness we spoon,  

For the writers who craft a violin out of a body, making beautiful sand when I’m gone,    

For those traditional healers and shamans who gather my leaves to embrace the spirits,    

For good people, people huge as the world, 

For people who don’t see beauty, 

For people who have nowhere to go in the afternoons,    

For people who give themselves away forgetting, 

For those looking for ideas or some time away, 

For those who are afraid not to be loved and love,   

For people who cannot help being kind,    

To the hand bunched in terror against them,    

For people who need to shelter from the rain,    

Its beauty disguised by its children’s demolition. 

 

St Edmund’s Catholic Primary poems

 

These Trees by St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School 

These trees  

keep me alive everyday  

growing beside me  

with the oxygen we need   

 

These trees bring me happiness  

give me what I crave, the fruit,  

And the freedom, the life  

through their roots and leaves  

 

When I’m sad they lift me up  

Drench me in joy like eating cake  

These trees, calm me down  

like listening to music  

 

They give me shelter in rain  

make homes for the animals 

These trees are for all of us  

keeping us healthy, amusing us  

brightening up our darkest days.   

 

Paper by Eleanor and Max from St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School 

 It wasn’t always like this, I used to be a tree in a forest as green as an apple  

After that I was shredded to pieces.  My family were taken with me.  

That terrible experience carried on as I was turned into a white sheet, shiny like gold.  

I was put in a package and sent to a school.  I was scratched and pulled until this beautiful poem was written on me.  

 

Crystal by Lukeand Lily from St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School 

 I lay in human hands; they deliver me into a dark safe.  

I didn’t like it this way, so I dreamed back   

Back to when I was in a shop people staring at me all day with expensive watches next to me   

I didn’t like it to be like this way, so I dreamed back   

To when I was being dug up, loud noises and machines and shovels knocking on my head   

I didn’t like it this way, so I dreamed back to when I was lying around on the cold earth having privacy and minding my own business. I liked it this way.  

 

Medicine by Polly from St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School 

 A shattered glass sitting in a big truck  

I didn’t like it this way, I remember when   

I was sitting in a factory mixed with other chemicals   

I didn’t like it this way, I remember when I was a beautiful calendula in the wild   

I liked it this way, I remember when I was a little seed being planted in the dirt  

 

Chocolate’s Memories by Lily W from St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School 

 Chocolate’s sunbathing in the sun,  

Chocolates smell so fun,  

It didn’t last all that long. 

So, he dreamed back not long ago.  

 

Back when it was just soil, growing tall and proud, a little seed began to sprout,  

He didn’t last all that long, so he dreamed back when he was young.  

Back when he was growing leaves, so fresh so tall, a little pod began to rise.  

 

Untitled by Fletcher from St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School 

 I was on a plate in China, I was chained inside a case. 

I didn’t like that as I was being eaten on a plate  

I was in a freezer frozen scared and alone, I didn’t like that as all I wanted was a home.  

I was alone stuck under a gate, I tried to run away but they stuck me in a case.  

I’m running in a field now with all my friends I like it this way that’s why it’s the end.  

 

Untitled by David from St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School 

 I was in pain. I was being broken in half and broken into bits by small children.  

I was a normal cacao tree. My conscious was connected to my seeds. I was relaxing in the hot Ghanian sun until  

A cacao farmer snipped off all of my seeds. I was in pain. I went to a factory, and I got mashed into bits and I had cocoa powder, powdered milk and sugar. I was frozen and I was hoping that I would be put out of my misery. I was in pain.  

 

Table by Pola from St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School 

 I was just a seed, until I grew,   

To become a complete, beautiful tree.  

But something came, I didn’t have a clue.  

My green leaves fell to the floor and that hurt me.  

 

This is horrible I hate this.  

 

I got laid down, chopped into pieces,  

My eyes stained from crying, ready to start again.  

I saw my friends starting with creases,  

I wanted to run away, but I know I can’t.  

 

This is horrible I hate this.  

 

Someone cutting, sawing right through me,  

I am turning into something I didn’t imagine.   

Can this just end? Someone please tell me,  

I think no one can imagine.  

 

This is horrible I hate this  

 

I got shipped away, I don’t know where,  

I am now something completely different, a table.  

I can see loads of children.  

I’m in a classroom, with a teacher sticking on me a name tag.   

This is now my life, I can’t change it.  

 

Tea by a student from St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School 

 Here I am, a drained teabag  

I dream I’m back beside foul-smelling waste.  

I am sitting at the bottom of a boiling cup of tea  

I cannot see,  

The heat hurts so much    

I do not like it here.   

I went back.  

 

I am being poured into a bag with string and lay at the top.  

I am being ground into a powder  

I feel grainy.  

I am spread out amongst others  

I do not like it here,   

I went back.  

 

I am a leaf being pulled off a tree,  

The pulling is very painful.  

I am being taken away from my family.  

I hate it here.  

I go back.  

 

I am swishing around in harmony with the tree,  

I am with my family.  

I love it here.  

I stay here   

It’s perfect.  

St John the Baptist Junior School poems

 

Chicken by Hayley and Tiffany from St John the Baptist Junior School 

As greasy as a battered sausage  

coated in oil  

 

A chicken burger  

As scrumptious as can be.  

 

I wish I could go back  

I really do,  

 

But if I did I   

would not have met you  

 

Wet and sloppy,  

All over your hands,  

 

The flesh is all bloody  

Not the life that I planned.  

 

I wish I could go back  

I really do,  

 

But if I did I   

would not have met you  

 

They pulled my neck,  

Made it click,  

 

All the blood flowing out,  

Makes me feel sick.  

 

I wish I could go back  

I really do,  

 

But if I did I   

would not have met you  

 

Alive at last,  

The life I loved,  

 

All I want is to be this way,  

Alive at last.  

 

Stay the same,  

All I want is to stay the same. 

 

 Chicken Nuggets by Erin and Billy from St John the Baptist Junior School

In the happy meal, getting picked out first, waiting to get eaten.

I didn’t like it this way, so I looked back

Back when I was in the lorry, getting transported to the restaurant with hundreds of others like me.

I didn’t like it this way, so I looked back

Back when I was in the factory, by machinery everywhere, clanging and bashing. Getting ready to go into the lorry,

I didn’t like it this way, so I looked back

Back on the farm, running free, happy as ever

I liked it this was so I kept thinking of this

 

Crab by Simon and Joe from St John the Baptist Junior School

On a posh street, in a posh restaurant, being eaten by a posh fellow

Walking back to reality,

On a cold, scrapy boat off the coast of Tasmania.

Walking back to reality,

Trapped, afraid, terrified of what was going to happen to him

Walking back to reality,

On the ocean floor, happy, calm, eating shrimp.

He stayed in the promised land.

 

French Fries by Hailey and Viktoria from St John the Baptist Junior School

The french fries are about to be eaten,

Looking back to their old memories,

Drizzled with olive oil and melted golden cheese.

Looking back to their old memories,

When they were little potatoes, getting chopped into pieces by a very sharp knife

Looking back to their old memories,

When they were planted in a little farm in a little pot.

They wished they could stay there forever.

 

Chocolate by Ben and Dylan from St John the Baptist Junior School

Digesting mush in the belly

of the beast, a human, who loves

eating lots and lots of chocolate.

 

He didn’t like it this way so, he looked back

 

It was a bar in a wrapper

Hot and melting, sweet and delicious.

 

He didn’t like it this way so, he looked back

 

Now in the factory, melted and fused,

Squished, shaped, poured and placed.

 

He didn’t like it this way so, he looked back

 

It was a bean on the bush with

Lots of fresh air, birds tweeting,

Cows mooing and chickens coo cooing.

 

He liked it this way, so he didn’t cocoa back.

 

Oak Wood by Riley and Kostia from St John the Baptist Junior School

Being cut off,

Oh, the good ol’ days of being a tree

And feeling the windy breeze

 

Being in a truck,

Oh, the good ol’ days of being a tree

With all my friends for all to see!

 

Factory,

Oh, the good ol’ days of being a tree

In a factory being cut up

 

Chair,

Oh, the good ol’ days of being a tree

Now I’m being sat on by a bee.

 

Calamari by Jaimie and Eva from St John the Baptist Junior School

Calamari on a plate

Fresh out of the fryer

The way I desire

On a plate with lemon and aioli.

I’m so lonely.

 

Swish swish in the sea

But I just hate how

I’m on a plate.

 

Chicken by Hayley and Tiffany from St John the Baptist Junior School

As greasy as a battered

sausage coated in oil

A chicken burger

As scrumptious as can be.

 

I wish I could go back

I really do,

But if I did I

would not have met you

 

Wet and sloppy,

All over your hands,

The flesh is all bloody

Not the life that I planned.

 

I wish I could go back

I really do,

But if I did I

would not have met you

 

They pulled my neck,

Made it click,

All the blood flowing out,

Makes me feel sick.

 

I wish I could go back

I really do,

But if I did I

would not have met you

 

Alive at last,

The life I loved,

All I want is to be this way,

Alive at last.

Stay the same,

All I want is to stay the same

 

Chicken Cutlet Dreaming by Spencer and Laila from St John the Baptist Junior School

Chicken bones lay in the oily bucket.

He was a lonely legbone covered in grease.

Soon the dogs would be in for him.

 

He didn’t like it to be this way.

So, he flew back.

 

Back to when he was in the fryer.

With his mates all beside him.

Smelling the oily and mucky fumes.

 

He didn’t like it to be this way.

So, he flew back.

 

Back to when he was in the ol’ convertible

With lamb shoulders and pork chops.

Trapped in a rusty metal cage.

He felt cold, dark and smelly,

Makes me feel a pain to my belly.

 

He didn’t like it to be this way.

So, he flew back.

 

Orange Juice by Temitope and Curtis from St John the Baptist Junior School

Orange juice lay in an acid pit.

It was slop slowly dissolving into the acid.

Soon it would be gone.

 

It hated this life.

It sunk into itself and dreamed back.

 

Back to when it was in the cup.

Beside the lunch of its drinker.

Raised up to his face

 

It hated this life.

It sunk into itself and dreamed back.

 

Back to when it was grabbed from the tree

Squeezed into a container

Transported to a new place.

 

It hated this life.

It sunk into itself and dreamed back.

 

Back to when it was growing on a stalk

Swinging happily for days

Feeling its strength growing. Its seeds ready to make a new tree.

 

It loved this life

It dreamed hard to stay there.

 

Leather Jacket by Autumnfrom St John the Baptist Junior School

I remember those days,

When I was young

Alive, happy and plump

 

But then he picked me

Said my skin was alright

Took me away and locked me up tight

Then I was shot, my last breath was squeezed out of me.

 

I remember those days,

When I was a slice of meat

Held there with only one string.

 

But then he skinned me,

Threw the rest in the bin,

Took me to the factory,

Life was a sin.

 

I remember those days,

A single bit of skin

Held in the factory, a new life will begin.

 

But there I was on a shop shelf,

Ready to be tried on.

Bought, life was hell.

 

Thought I was vegan

Life was a lie.

I remember those days

When I was alive.

 

Lemonade by Jack and Qasimfrom St John the Baptist Junior School

I’m growing on a tree with birds singing around me

A light breeze rocking me gently.

 

A hand grasps me and pulls me from my tree

Roughly, the hand puts me in a basket just like many others.

 

The basket was lifted onto a truck.

It shuddered and shook, the noise was deafening.

 

They finally took me out of the box after a long journey.

They started to squeeze me, it was terrible and uncomfortable.

It hurt so much I could not bear with it

I was just juice in a bottle now

 

I got put in a box again, rattling against other bottles

The noise hit me and I sloshed about.

 

They put me on a freezing shelf

I was unable to move until someone reached out for me just like before

All of a sudden, they brought me home and I felt unknown

They put me in the cold cellar again

How sad I was then.

 

A Pencil by Darren and Sresht from St John the Baptist Junior School

A pencil, being sharpened and cut into pieces of wood going into the bin,

His dreams disappearing, his last looks were when he…

 

Going back to a flashback…

Stuffed up with stone. Stuck in a box, ready to be sent to the school.

 

It doesn’t feel good in the box, so he wanted to get out.

 

Going back to a flashback…

In the factory, made into a shape which he has no idea about.

The clatter of machines, the shivering conveyor,

No, he needs to go further back,

 

Going back to a flashback…

In a rural area of nowhere. He and his friends were cut into pieces with a horrid noise and ‘chainsaw’ spelt on it. It doesn’t sound good.

 

Going into a flashback…

In 1986, back to when he was happily living, it was great, he wanted to stay with his other seed friends.

Cake by Verity and Aoife from St John the Baptist Junior School

Here is how your cake is made, maybe by you, maybe by me or maybe in a factory, where all the machines all crunch or whirr although homemade ones are the ones I prefer. With eggs and flour, butter and milk, sugar and vanilla.

Chocolate cake, Victoria sponge, creamy, dense, light and fluffy, although sometimes cake can end up a bit scruffy.

The eggs you go to bake your cake with are made by mama chicken. She lays them in her little hut and then someone comes to pick them up.

The wheat grows slowly and happily in a field or farm.

The butter and milk you use to bake your cake are made by cows, that go moo.

That’s the time, yes it is, to mix it up, bowl, but it’s got to be big. Once you’ve done that in the oven it goes.

‘Ding’ mmm, that smell is beautiful.

Your cake is baked, it smells delicious.

Now for a slice.

 

Paper by a student from St John the Baptist Junior School

I was in the patch of grass, preparing my start to the growing stage.  As I started to pop out of the ground.

I was happy.  The lovely fields where I stood, tall in solidarity with my brothers and sisters I knew from when I was a seed.

I got chopped to bits, with a million others in the factory saying goodbye to family and friends.

I was sad. I was thin as air. Alone. Not a sound, a spark of light, or a width of measurement.  I missed my friends, oh how I missed them.

I felt happy being used for the purpose of writing and drawing, but later I’ll have to say bye to my human.

I am sad. Deserted. Full of pain and anger. The horrible memories through my life. I don’t deserve this, nobody does.  The bin. This smelly place is my only company.

If only I could go back.

 

Lemonade by Archie and Pablo from St John the Baptist Junior School

Mr Lemon was chillin’ on a tree having fun!

He liked this.

 

He was squashed and squashed painfully.

He didn’t like this.

 

After that he was taken to a restaurant.  But when he arrived there, he did not like that place. He wished he was back on a tree.

 

Then he was put in a freezer, freezing cold, wanting to go back, to leave and go back to where he belonged, on a tree. Back to home.

 

The Dried Mango by Amelie and Kayley from St John the Baptist Junior School

In a lunchbox,

In a pot,

About to be eaten.

The mango lay and dreamt about her past.

 

The boiling hot heater swelled her up,

She began to look like an

Orange raisin.

The mango lay and dreamt about her past.

 

Her skin peeled off,

A knife sliced her heart,

The knife diced her arm.

The mango lay and dreamt about her past.

 

An old wrinkly hand, yanked her off a tree,

She screamed in pain,

She got dumped into a van.

The mango lay and dreamt about her past.

 

Growing, full of joy,

She danced and sang,

Happiness filled her heart.

She was free.

 

Crisps by Amy from St John the Baptist Junior School

Crisps were waiting on the shop shelf,

A packet quite plain,

Ready to be grabbed and shovelled into a human’s mouth.

 

It was not always like this,

It remembered the days before.

 

It remembered sharp blades at all angles,

Slicing it into paper-like strips,

Getting thrown into a boiling fryer,

And sealed up into a bag of plastic.

 

It was not always like this,

It remembered the days before.

 

It remembered being turned, tumbled and thrown,

Bumped, twisted and blown,

Until it was trapped in a fuming, grey place.

 

It was not always like this,

It remembered the days before.

 

It remembered when it was plucked from its lifeforce,

Tumbled into a big sack with many others just like itself.

 

It was not always like this,

It remembered the days before.

 

It remembered the time when it was not all bad,

It was growing under the soil next to its acquaintances.

 

It was like this,

This was what it was like to be free.

 

Pencil by a student from St John the Baptist Junior School

Tree growing from a seed

Growing big and tall

Colourful leaves falling

Drifting to the ground

 

Being cut,

An arrow through the head

Being driven to the factory,

Worried for what might happen ahead.

 

Made into shape and form

Being cut and torn

Smothered

A pencil being born

 

Arriving at a new home,

Sitting gathering dust

Waiting to be used,

Drawing is a must.

 

Colours flying from the page,

Red, yellow and blue

A drawing being made,

Multicoloured too…

 

The Squirrel Life by Andrew from St John the Baptist Junior School

Jumping from branch

To branch swinging

And singing

 

Every day they like to play

Giggling and laughing on the way

 

In a hurry, they scurry

Back to where they like it

In a tree were millions lay

 

Staring at their home

Not wanting to play as they

Lay there watching their home fall into hay

 

They don’t play, they don’t want to stay

But they know they have to pray

 

Running from tree to tree

Trying to find a home

When they all hope a friend comes to stay

 

Why don’t you stay with me

Full of glee they feel free

Jumping up and down

 

They turn that frown upside down

Jumping up and down they give him a crown

Knowing they can live another day and play again.

 

Hampton Hill Junior School poems

The Life of an Orange

I was once a seed in a faraway

Land. Distanced from sound and

Discussion. Planted in a farm a long long

Time ago.

 

I was once a

Sprout who started to point out of

The ground and that was

When life began, and bigger and

Bigger I grew.

 

I was once a plump fruit

With juice so close to bursting,

And picked off the emerald tree I

Was. Then I was chopped

Off an oak board, as juice

Erupted.

 

I was once put in the mouth,

The smell of other stenches blew me

Away and I continued to fall down

The continuous body.

 

I am now a smelly abandoned skin

Abandoned and left on the street.

I want to turn back, turn back

To the beginning when life was super sweet.

 

 

Chicken

Oh how being left in this bucket belonging to KFC isn’t so fun

I wish I could remember all the times, all the times that I was quite dumb

I wish I could get rid of all the memories of the factory

If only I could turn back time

 

Back to when I was growing up and aging in the sun,

The wind drifting over my feathers with others clacking in the distance,

I wish I could turn back time

 

I dream of days when I was young and yellow and just a chick

I was not (illegible words) the walk of this place

I wish I could turn back time

 

 

Forest by Isobel, Olyver, Serina & Marcus at Hampton Hill Junior School

Back to when I was a little seed placed in the wet, moist soil

When the worms passed by as I grew

I was happy there

I felt safe.

 

Back to when I was growing tall

So big that everything was small

I was young and strong

Listening to the birds’ sweet song

Only when everything went wrong.

 

I was warm there in those old days

 

Back to when I was in a lush green forest, I was happy there.

Machine came rushing in, cutting down my friends and family,

I was scared.

The evil look on the people’s faces as I fell and crashed to the ground,

It hurts

I shut my eyes slowly and dreamed back to the good old days,

When I felt safe.

 

Back to when I was in the factory

It was cold, damp and I was terrified

I felt broken

 

 

Pig by Ciara Dembo & co. at Hampton Hill Junior School

I lay in the mud

Believing everlasting happiness

The mud slimy on top of me

I was happy in those days

 

I, a joyful pig, started to notice

The weather turned into a storm

Beasts chasing me like I’m a pigeon

I got put into the factory and saw all my family

I wasn’t happy in those days

 

The chunky old pig was chopped up

He did not like that chop chop

Blood sweated everywhere and voila! He turned into bacon and bangers

He did not like that, I saw the words Maccy D’s

What could that mean for me?

Is this the end for little old me?

I wasn’t happy in those days

 

I was put in a bun, it was a disaster.

I couldn’t believe it, my life was flashing before me.

I had a family, this is the end,

I’m getting eaten by a disgusting beast,

I wasn’t happy in those days.

 

 

Skyscraper

It was on a street in London

Where the people worked and noise everywhere

I didn’t like it so I shut my eyes and dreamt back

 

The wind was soft for me but it

Blew the tiny statue of Rishi Sunak

I wish I wasn’t that famous

 

When I was breathing in the cold London air

Pigeons flying above the clouds

I dreamed back to the dreamy glistening water

 

Rishi Sunak told

To build a skyscraper

It was big

 

Corn by Amber, Poppy, & Joey at Hampton Hill Junior School

The corn lay on

The plate trickling

with butter

I didn’t really like to be this way

 

I looked back

Back to when I was in the supermarket

Back to when I was with cucumber and peppers

Living our best lives

2 months I was in there

I didn’t really like to be that way

So I closed my eyes and looked back

 

Corn thought back to the time when he

Had been healthy and yellow

In the open sunlight without

A care in the world

Me and my brother swaying in the wind

 

I liked to be this way

So I tried my best to stay here

 

Tree by Freddie, Dylan, Kenny & Grace at Hampton Hill Junior School

Thinking about when it was

Dead bark on the muddy ground

Feeling frozen and damp

 

Back to when I grown fully

I was picked away from my family

Into the basket with my clones

I didn’t like it, I was lonely

 

Back to when he was a healthy tree

With animals calling it home

He heard the people marching with their axes

He didn’t like it this way

He dreamed back to…

 

Seed in the muddy ground

I can hear the rain falling near me

I feel like I’m in a nightmare being suffocated

In the small, cramped space

 

 

Growing Bigger

On my way to the plate

Don’t be late for eight

I will be eaten

Left my mates

A feeling that I know I hate

 

Back to when I was growing bigger

And bigger I felt like I was screeching

And my heart was beating faster

I liked this feeling I’ve never felt it before

I felt big and strong within myself

 

Back to when I was put into the soil

The darkness surrounded me

It was the start of me

I like this

I waited, shut my eyes and stayed here

 

Elephant

When I was in the zoo

I hate the food and the people

I wish I was three again

I did not like it that way

 

When I was on a ship

In a cage towards the unknown island

Which is most likely to be a nightmare of a journey

or my career

I did not like it that way

 

When I was in a cage

There was rusted bars and was not comfortable to sleep in

I shut my eyes and dreamed of the happy days

I could see my bones they were all like a broken fish

At the end I didn’t like it that way

 

When I was in the old rust cage

I die in it, my fish look like fish bones

And my head feels like its broken

I miss the way my parents love me

I did not like it that way

 

 

The Teenager

Once there was a teenager

Laying in his bed

He heard a

Dark voice and it said

 

Help me, help me

I’m being chased by a bear

And if it catches me

He will put me in his bloody lair

 

I wish I was back in bed

And all these voices weren’t

In my head

 

I’m stuck in a tornado

Spinning round and round

It moves my head

Up and down

 

I wish I was back in bed

And all these voices weren’t

In my head

 

I am stuck in the sea

Unable to swim

I don’t want to drown

I want to grow a yin

 

I wish I was

Back and all these

Voices weren’t in my head

 

Cherry Tree

I am here in the forest

About to be planted

One day I know I’ll be King of the forest

 

The rain is falling, drip drip onto my leaves

The sun’s rays shine in my eyes

Giving me life

I can feel the energy

 

I am now growing

I am higher than most

This makes me feel happy

Soon I will reach the sky

 

All grown and prepared

Here I am as bright as

Red and well fed

Here I am in this tumbling and

Rambling machine being

Carried away to another place

 

Carrot

Here I am deep underground

I start as a little seed

Roots spring out of me like long wiggly arms

 

After some water I emerge from the ground

A little spec of orange

And the dreaded moment came

When I was yanked from the ground

I lost some of my roots, now I have headache.

I like it when I was in the ground

Talking to my friends

But now my journey has begun

 

Here I am deep in the forest

Getting put in a clear bag

And shipped away, far from home.

I liked it when I was underground

Talking to my friends

 

There I am cleaned and proud in my Sunday day

I would be transported to the supermarket

 

Here I am about to be chosen to take home

 

Here I am about to be chosen to take and put on a plate

 

Already been sliced and diced

Now I’m not whole

I’m now on a plate ready to be ate

And to be swallowed by a child

Now my journey has ended

And I’ve had my fun by miles

My journey doesn’t go on

 

Oranges

The soft and cushioned soil,

Just like a new white pillow.

Here I grow as time flows,

Dreaming and dreaming, I fly to the bright blue sky.

 

As calm as I can be,

I move on

 

The rain falling,

The warm sun,

Ouch my stem,

Ripped and thrown into a bath of fruit,

 

As calm as I can be,

I move on

 

I am a lonely thing,

Lost from my family.

In the basket I lay,

With darkness near me.

This is where I am.

 

As calm as I can be,

This is where I am.

 

Here I am as a relaxing orange at a house.

I’m not okay anymore I am leaving into the unknown

I am getting sliced

World peace out,

And my friends and I are leaving this world

You were so good to my heart, goodbye.

 

Calm as I can be,

I move on

 

 

Here I am…

Here I am in the warehouse

Loud machinery surrounds me

Yet to be made

 

Here I am waiting

For parts to come together

Frames and lenses all together

 

Here I am traveling to my shop

Watching the scans someone’s trying me on

Could this be the one?

 

Here I am

I’m happy now

I have an owner – I like it

 

 

Strawberries by Immy, Nouran, Bath & Dima at Hampton Hill Junior School

Plant growing, water absorbing

Strawberries rising, sunlight shinning

Strawberries growing, plants winding

Water dropping, new growing

 

Life was good

I miss the old days

Hope to grow again

 

Being picked, being washed

Being eaten, being crushed

 

Life’s no good

I miss the old days

Can’t grow again

 

Squirrel

Squirrel’s bones buried in the ground,

Right outside the fox’s lair.

Dreaming about being free,

And not in the dirty soil.

 

He didn’t like it this way,

He cradled acorns close to his heart,

And sprinted away.

 

I am laying in the slobbery mouth of a fox,

The stench is unbearable all I can smell is rotten flesh.

The fox bit down as hard as he could.

My brains squirted out of my head like melted cheese

Squelching out of a jacket potato.

 

He didn’t like it this way,

He cradled acorns close to his heart,

And sprinted away.

 

Running from the fox’s jaws, snapping at my tail,

Fleeing for my life, past the deer and rabbits staring as I fled,

Before I was snapped up.

 

He didn’t like it this way,

He cradled acorns close to his heart,

And sprinted away.

 

Dreaming about the time when he was in the forest

Eating an acorn and sleeping in his small house,

Imagining lots of acorns.

He tried his hardest to try and stay there.

 

 

In the Rainforest

In the beginning

I was a baby clinging onto my mum

It was nice to be out in the rainforest sun

Those were the good days

 

I was swinging through the trees

Whilst the warm breeze brushed through my hair

I’m a grown up now

I can do what I want and I don’t care

Those were the good days

 

Here they come

Lodgers were chopping down trees

They were here to stay

Lodgers were chopping down trees

They were not here to play

I wish I could go back to the good old days

 

I remember falling to death out of a tree

Thinking this should not be

I wish I could go back to the good old days

 

 

Mash Potatoes by Harley, Jasper, Andi & Hendrix at Hampton Hill Junior School

I am waiting to be swallowed,

As I sat in his warm, damp mouth.

Broken into bits, I was dreaming about going back.

 

I thought back to when I was lying in a big lump,

Next to the peas and sweetcorn.

I could hear a man getting ready to dig in,

I felt the fork going through my body in ease.

I didn’t like this so I went back.

 

I was cut and then mashed by the hands of a strong, burly man.

It was uncomfortable, yet the human couldn’t empathise.

Before this, he skinned me with his nails.

I wish he could feel my pain.

I wish I could go back.

 

As I started in the ground all swished as a pulp

I see the hand pulling me out of the ground

I know that I was free.

I was washed, I liked it, I felt free again.

I liked it here

I want to stay here

Let me stay here.

 

The Fear of the Pineapple by Amalia, Iris, Eleanor & Huey at Hampton Hill Junior School

After the supermarket I was scared.

The plastic rapper removed by a Queen.

A King puts a fork in my head,

I have never seen the inside of a stomach.

Finally after weeks of waiting,

I am lifted out of the prison,

I am stripped of my armour,

Fear ripples through me as I am cut into

Miniscule pieces and violently placed into a wrapper

Fear enveloped me,

 

I wasn’t happy, so I dreamed back to another place

And another time

 

I was squashed into a stinky, mouldy crate

And felt a sudden jerk as this vehicle transported me to a far off, unknown land.

As the fear flows through my body I wonder what horror is to meet me

Death or worse?

 

I wasn’t happy, so I dreamed back to another place

And another time

 

At first my colour used to beam in the sunlight

I was happy by myself and

My flowers were really bright until

I got tore off violently

 

I was happy there and I wish I could stay

 

Fruit by Javier, Nisa & co at Hampton Hill Junior School

I remember when I was small I had no spikes

When I grew up I had spikes

Then I got picked off a bush/tree

Then I got cut with my juice pouring out

Then I got cut again, again, again and again

I hurt a lot then I got grabbed by a weirdo

They put me on pizza.

 

When I was on a tree

I had yellow skin

I smelt fresh air

I could see the tall tree

I got taken off the tree

I got put in a bowl

A hand grabbed me

It peeled my skin and bit my head

I wish I was on the tree

I wish everything was calm

I want to go back

I want to go back where things were calm.

 

Back to when I was a normal strawberry

I didn’t know how it felt to be dipped in chocolate

Before I was picked by humans.

 

Back when I was a normal raspberry on a bush growing happily

Suddenly I got picked by a human

And ended up in a pie

I did not like that at all.

 

 

Gum by Grace, Lina, Ella, Tamson & Fanna at Hampton Hill Junior School

My fresh, new scent lost,

I was lying in the sticky remains of a banana peel.

The bin felt hot and stuffy,

This is not the place for me.

 

I do not like it here.

I turn back

 

Back to when I was under a table

And all dried and shrivelled up

Losing my stick

With many other victims of trick

 

I do not like it here.

I turn back

 

Back to when I was feeling free and alive, a bubble,

All I needed was to be here.

But suddenly, I popped in fear,

The moment was gone.

 

I do not like it here.

I turn back

 

Back to when my first bite was taken,

The sweet pain rushing through me

Flavour surrounded me, succulent and juicy

But the pain became too intense, too much for me.

 

I do not like it here.

I turn back

 

Back to when I was shiny and new,

I stared up at the white paper wrapping of my prison,

I could hear muffled voices above me

And suddenly I was pulled upwards into new hands.

 

This was the way I liked it.

Yes, it was good.

 

 

Picture Frame by Ada, Sofia, Caterina & Kai at Hampton Hill Junior School

I was once a seed in a farm

I am now getting chomped up by a fat man

I feel sweaty and wet with saliva

I smell eggs and pickles mixed together

 

Back when I was polished

All shiny and sparkly

I glistened in the light

 

Back in the factory

The intense pressure crushing my

Grainy surface moulding me

Into a rectangle.

 

I don’t like it here

I dreamed back

 

As I have been polished

I am put into a wooden frame

And I felt like I am in the wall of fame

 

Back in the oven’s flames

I was just sand and it burnt until I was

See-through and slowly

Merge into tiny pieces of glass

 

I dreamed back.

 

Back on the sandy shore

The waves lapping on the beach

 

I like it here

I want to try and stay here.

Find out more about Cultural Reforesting and SupermarketForest.