Poetry of Science 2019.Indd
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In February 2019, the The judges were: Oxford science and ideas Festival, IF Oxford, asked Niall Munro is Senior Lecturer in young people to write American Literature and Director of the a short poem on any Events all around Oxford Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre. topic of science, using any poetry style. Over 18–28 October 2019 Kelley Swain has published several 500 entries ranged from anthologies and was poet-in-residence at limericks and rap haiku, the Oxford University Museum of Natural acrostic poems and History in 2016. poems based on shape. The winning entries and Claire Hamnett is a physics teacher runners-up are all published and leader of Oxford Science Learning here and these ten poems Partnership to support world-leading were performed at IF Oxford on Sunday 20 October 2019 in science education for young people. Oxford Town Hall. Dane Comerford is Director of IF Oxford. Poems came from home- schooled pupils and from 24 schools across Oxfordshire. Cathy Rose is Events Manager, leading on the IF Oxford poetry competition. Primary schools Brize Norton Primary Thank you to our supporters and partners: Chandlings Primary Christ Church Cathedral School Five Acres Primary Goring CE Primary Harriers Banbury Academy Holy Trinity Catholic Primary Manor School, Didcot North Hinksey Primary Ridgeway CE Primary Rush Common Primary The Manor Preparatory School Wood Farm Primary Secondary schools Chiltern Hills Academy Poetry of Science 2019 Cranford House School Didcot Girls School King Alfred’s Academy Matthew Arnold School Oxford High School Oxford Spires Academy Rye St Antony School Sir William Borlase Grammar MAGAZINE The Oxford Academy Wheatley Park School DEFYNE www.if-oxford.com 3 Eva Tens, age 7 Holy Trinity Catholic School Seasons Fun One two three it is Autumn Four fi ve six leaves change colour Seven eight nine they fall down Winner Ten eleven twelve people jump in leaves School Years 1-2 After Autumn it’s Winter One two three it is Winter Megan Wallington, age 5 Four fi ve six it is cold! Rush Common Primary School Seven eight nine snow begins to fall Ten eleven twelve in December it is Christmas After Winter it’s Spring My Body Is Amazing One two three it is Spring Four fi ve six fl owers grow Stomach, heart, bones and toes, Seven eight nine it is warm Bottom, blood, brain and nose, Ten eleven twelve it is Easter. The science I love is biology, After Spring it’s Summer. Because it’s what makes me, me! One two three it is Summer Four fi ve six it’s really hot Seven eight nine it’s good for the plants Ten eleven twelve I love seasons. Aisha Hasan, age 6 Wood Farm Primary School Poetry of Science 2019 A Cat A fi sh lover A trick lover A dog hater A collar wearer A stroke lover A tree climber A milk drinker A garden runner A sleep lover A mouse catcher Poetry of Science 2019 A night runner A paw licker 4 5 Maya Bristow, age 9 Manor School Didcot Icicles Icicles hanging; From the wet trees they dangle, Shaking in the wind. Naomi Poole, age 8 Icicles shiv’ring; Home Educated The bitter wind freezes them, As they dangle down. Icicles melting; Explaining As spring arrives, they trickle Marina Ross, age 10 And drip in the sun. Weather to a Cat Harriers Banbury Academy Icicles fading; My cat and I sat, Dis’pearing like dying fl ames, Looking at a bad weather day. To an empty glass. He was curious, Don’t Ignore the Signs “Where do sky monsters come from?” Icicles fl oating; 3-6 School Years They’re clouds raining on the Is there a voice in your brain Rain, hail and snow tree, reminding you of all the pain? From the oceans and rivers below. As the water drips. Do you feel like a prisoner to yourself? Sun heats them, then they fl y Because that’s not very good for your mental health And evaporate into the sky. Icicles forming; Or do you think you’re in control? If they freeze as six-sided shapes they will be snowfall. They get longer and longer, Is this true, A great, white cloak. When Winter comes ‘round. or another lie your mind’s telling you? Hail rolls, like snowballs in the clouds, If you isolate yourself from the world Like putting on layers of clothes. Icicles again; in your room, curled up, like a pearl? It boings. The ground its trampoline. Shaking in the tree like before, If you show any of these signs It’s the Icycle! reach out because you’re not fi ne A spark that bites, bright, of electrical light As if the clouds are sticks being rubbed together. The friction is weather making weather. William Worrall, age 11 Sound is slower, travelling in a traffi c jam, arguing with the air. Chandlings School Tortoise thunder. This time a win for lightening hare. Poetry of Science 2019 Heat rises, cold falls Then comes the wind with a big ROAR! Experimental The sun is the creator of all. “Look Dixie. Perfect weather.” Experiments Fail. He went out. Things Go Wrong, Sometimes Badly, But he came back in again. So We Try Again. Winner Poetry of Science 2019 6 7 Lyla Gri n, age 12 Sir William Borlase’s Grammar Windmill Zara King, age 14 I stand on the hill Didcot Girl’s School Standing strong for all to see I’m here in darkness I’m here in night The Canvas Up High But am I even noticed? Reaching up towards the clouds Explosions of nothingness Far away, we gaze up They taunt me Are sprayed across With our scopes from home. As they’re lazily drifting across the deep blue sky A canvas of colour, We feel big Dark mixing with light, And tall, My white wings catching the sunlight It’s no longer just But faced with this My powerful blades turning Black and white. Canvas up high, We’re rather small. Forced by the wind Huge fl oating giants My companion out of view Of gas and rock The brush strokes Nature’s strength shows me all weather Are still nothing compared to Are burning hot, While we work in harmony The monstrous burning hulks. The canvas From afar, Burning cold, White metal spinning faster They’re little dots of purity, Diff erences collide with what Whirling day and night They’re really pits Our thoughts call home. Electricity fl ows through my veins Of fi ery hunger. The power stored within me We still know little about the The energy I contain Canvas up high, Threading onwards But our curiosity blooms, Taking us further, Even if it’s just as far The breeze leaves me As our own moon. Poetry of Science 2019 I’m slowing down As my white wings stop turning You disappear out of sight It’s out of my control I stand silent on the hill Waiting Alone Poetry of Science 2019 8 9 Winner Flossy Thornton-Wood, age 13 School Years 7-11 Sir William Borlase’s Grammar The Mind Sometimes she By night, Is a wonderful companion, These thoughts and feelings become Leading me through new worlds, fi nding new falsifi able; adventures. She’s the eagle, the Vulture of her own fantasies, Wittily whisking me away to a land I had never Changing with every vision that she creates. imagined before, Yet my body still lies in the familiarity of my own bed, When I fail to see what’s before me, my own home, She lightens my Maybe even my own two feet. path through life; Whether it’s the merciless hawk, She can be a whirlwind of emotions, Or the magnifi cent hummingbird. Patterns, Pictures, Dreams ignited from one single motion, Poetry of Science 2019 One single touch. By day, she Spreads her eloquent wings, Thoughts and feelings projecting off of each fl awless feather, Subconscious yet predictable. Poetry of Science 2019 10 11 Produced by: MAGAZINE DEFYNE defyne.design.