I Hear the Trees by Zaro Weil
I Hear the Trees is the latest collection of poems from Zaro Weil. She shares a special blog post with us today and it is delightful to read.
POETRY
Where Slow and Cosy
Go Wild and Woolly
by Zaro Weil
In a hoopla of flashing colours and clicks, a child’s everyday speeds by overwhelmingly fast and loud.
Personal electronics – the continual hum and buzz of an excitable and exciting screen – often crowd out those moments of quiet inner life we seek to nurture in our kids.
It is tough to compete with that heady buzz delivered by a device.
But we educators and artists have a few tricks up our sleeve and can conjure up a cosy and inspiring place filled with exciting – going on magical – hidden spaces for our kids. A space where attention deepens, creativity takes root and imagination soars.
A special place where we can champion the idea of quiet and go rooting for slow and where the art of stillness shifts into the art of noticing little things.
We magicians can, with the wave of a clever wand, pull the final rabbit out of the hat and encourage our kids to leap from the familiar, safe and cosy to the joy of wild and woolly imagination and creativity.
Enter poetry, a cosy, safe and imaginative space that can wrap warmly around every child. A space offering comfort, connection and creativity, and above all, joy.
Poetry is a place where familiar and striking rhythms, repetition, rhyme and energy charged, well-chosen words create patterns of language and thought which offer instinctive pleasure. In fact, the hum and buzz of sheer delight.
A poem rolls over us. Doesn’t ask too much. It invites. Welcomes.
Poetry slows things down. A poem doesn’t rush. It stops and asks its audience to get in touch with their senses. To look at the shine of water pearls on leaves after the rain; to listen to the loud sound of a quiet snowfall; to feel the rush and brush of wind soaring through the clouds.
A poem teaches both the art of slow observance of our every-days and the acceptance of the fast and unexplained; the tantalising and totally illogical magic that calls itself imagination.
Cosiness can be imaginative and emotional and it is often funny. It’s the world of blanket forts, pillow whispers and laughing dandelions.
Poetry meets children there offering an infinite playground of words where mystery unfolds. A place where heart meets mind.
Poems are often cosily shared out loud; at bedtime, in classrooms and with friends. Other times they are quietly read or written alone. Poems have the power to create intimate bonds, deeper friendships, personal satisfaction and memories.
Because poetry springs from the heart and soul of the poet who has something to say, poetry is, by nature, emotional.
And personal. Poetic words offer the child a chance to identify with big emotions they might skip over in their day to day. Poems express what the child might not always be able to; joy, sadness, jealousy, fear and more.
It is through expressive language, the heady and daring use of rhyme, rhythm, words and feelings, that poetry has that shazam spell-like power to engage top to toe. And where through some magical alchemy, the child’s hidden emotions may become more gently recognisable to themselves. Perhaps understandable.
Listening to, reading, sharing and writing poems can help the child feel less alone and more understood.
Poetry is indeed wondrous cosy, offering the perfect conditions for wild and woolly imaginations to go flying.
And significantly, quietly opening the hearts and minds of our kids, empowering each child to better know and express their truest selves.
So next time you want to offer an exciting place for kids with a bit of magic and a lot of heart thrown in, try
conjuring up poetry. It is a pretty good bet it might just be the cosiness our kids didn’t know they needed.
Book credit:
I Hear the Trees by Zaro Weil, illustrated by Junli Song (Hachette Children’s Books) available now.
