ToddDragon Collaborations: Summer Poetry

Summer has been hugely different for me this year, as it has for many people. I've found myself reminiscing old nights of partying down Bournemouth beach, donning my flags for Pride parades, and even simple moments like impromptu day trips out and about in Cornwall with friends. However, through the poetry that I and Sam have created, I have explored some of my favourite summer memories and feelings. Creativity has been incredibly difficult for me in the current global climate, as evident by my lack of activity on this blog, but I'm back with a bang... Well, my amateur photography blended with Sam's magnificent poetry. For this mini-project, intended to be the first in a series of four (one for each season) we decided to pick four prompts which we would each write four poems for, then swap poems, to then take a corresponding photograph for each. This post contains Sam's four poems, and the four photographs I took to go with them. For my poetry and Sam's photography, check out her corresponding post here.

We hope our art can bring a little summer to you, whether you're isolating at home or working the front line. Enjoy!

YELLOW

You’ll find me in the sun that shines down on you,

You’ll find me painting the fields with colour as the sunflowers bloom,

You’ll find me plastered to a house on the beach front,

And you’ll find me painted on an old beetle car.

I’ll fill you with memories of days that you could never forget,

I’ll help you think clearly as you realise that not everything is bad.

I’ll give you a fresh start and the energy to try again.

You’ll find me in the warmth of summer days,

The feeling you get as you laugh with your friends

And the stillness of a field of daffodils.

You’ll even find me

When you may not expect it,

Once you remember that dandelions are yellow too.

MEMORIES

There are two kinds of memories.

The first keep you up at night,

Gnawing away at your soul.

They follow you,

as you walk the all too familiar streets you once called home,

Like vicious ghosts.

The second fill you will joy.

You grin from ear to ear as you remember how hard you laughed,

How bright the world seemed in those moments,

How light you felt, as if nothing could hurt you.

We are programmed to remember the bad more than the good,

So that the bad doesn’t happen again.

This is fair

And smart

I don’t think anyone would want to relive their darkest moments.

But how many would love to relive their brightest?

PRIDE

How do we show our pride

In a world that crushes anything that’s different?

How do we find the courage to stand out?

The world is full of different people:

Different cultures,

Different traditions,

Different ways of loving,

Different ways of grieving.

How do we show our pride

In a world that punishes individuality?

People like to fit in:

There’s safety in numbers they say,

Keep your head down and you’ll be okay,

This is just how it is they say,

Do as you’re told and you’ll be okay.

Maybe this works for some people.

Maybe some would prefer a quiet life

To an authentic one

But peace seems awfully expensive

When it comes at the cost of who you are.

Only you can make the choice.

Will you stand up and have pride in who you are,

Where you come from,

What you look like,

Who you love,

And who you are.

Or will you let them win?

So,

How do we show our pride

In a world that crushes anything that’s different?

You make the choice to

Stand up and tell them that:

We will not be erased.

We are proud of who we are.

We will fight for our right to be ourselves

And we will win.

OCEAN

How can you be so wild and dangerous,

yet so wonderful and caring?

You are a force of nature,

Whose wrath is unmatched.

In your anger you consume ships,

Cities and lives no matter how big or small.

Your rage is constant as you slowly break away the land

To claim more of our world to satisfy your hunger.

You’re depths hold creatures too horrifying to imagine.

Your hunger can never be satisfied

No matter how many wreckages lay decaying on your sandy floor.

You will consume everything if it is the last thing you do.

And yet,

No matter how many structures you claim as your own,

No matter how many are lost to your murky depths,

We continue an uneasy alliance,

Knowing your calm could become a storm at any time.

We stand where the land ends and you begin,

So you can tickle our toes and chase us back when we become to bold.

We sit and listen to the sound of the constant war you rage on the land,

To calm and centre ourselves.

Despite the rage we know you hold,

We wade a little deeper to submerge ourselves in your power,

And you begin to see that we are more than we seem.

Perhaps over the years you’ve come to realise

That we will not be scared away.

You can sink our ships, destroy our homes and claim lives for your own,

But you can’t take our spirit.

Perhaps you’ve accepted our never-ending curiosity

And begun to understand

That we will never stop exploring no matter what you do.

You are a force of nature that cannot be tamed.

You continue your war against our shores,

But gave up long ago at attacking our need to Know.

We may be small compared to you,

But maybe you’ve come to realise

That we’re a force of nature too.