When it rains in the Forest, Zakiya Mckenzie

When it rains in the Forest by Zakiya Mckenzie

A poem for our centenary project writers in the forest.

Raindrops on copper beech leaves

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When it rains in the Forest

Rain is not sadness
It’s falling does not send me to sorrow
Instead I welcome the washing away
Wrought by the fresh forest shower

Its thrashing is a mother's womb
It is heartbeat and pitter-patter
In this safe place, cocooned
To be wet makes it no lesser

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Close up of blackberry flower

The Fern Ticket II

She checked to see what time it was. Looking up at the sun, she smiled because the rainclouds that had splashed the morning seemed to have moved on.

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Eerie trees in the forest

The Old Heads of Elder Grove Learn About Air Pollution

A cobalt sky blanketed the morning and pockets of hazy sunshine beamed through morphing openings in the canopy high.

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Mine entrance black and white

Living, working forest

“Mining has been around since time out of mind,” I am told my Deputy Gaveller Dan Howell.

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Notebook and pen on green grass

Writer in the Forest

Writing in the forest is affirming. It owes me nothing and didn’t ask me to say these things

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