Poems to share
Written in the world
by Jan Dean
Share
I left you a message in the apple tree
‘blossom’ it said
I meant you to be strong and happy
I meant you to grow and shine
I know you will be beautiful
you are so loved, how could you not?
I left you a message
in the rivers in the tides,
about comings and goings
the way things keep on being new
the sky is full of scribbled notes
birdsong and blue
stormcloud hailstone blizzard
stuff changes
but bad things are not forever
the same is true
of all the weather in your heart
and don’t forget the message
in the snail
the unexpected handsomeness of shells
trails of silver underneath your feet
that let you know
the things which eat
your precious garden shoots
are more than pests
and have a secret loveliness
that’s all their own
Jan Dean
Jan Dean lives in the South West and likes to eat ice cream and swim in the sea. When she’s not doing that she travels all over the place performing her poems in schools and running workshops for pupils and teachers."There’s a famous saying ‘the medium is the message’ – it means that if you paint a picture, one of the things the picture will be about is the paint itself, it’s dribbliness, its thickness and its colour. A poem will have a subject, but it will also always be about words themselves and what they’ll do. I started to think about the messages in things around me and this poem grew from that idea."
