SPRING POETRY BAKE OFF!

15
attending

Of course, in the final workshop before the Easter break, there was only one thing
to do - a Spring poetry bake off!

For anyone who hadn't been lucky enough to attend one of our previous young writers
bake offs(!) we started by explaining the format - three rounds of poetry
challenges, inspired by the format of the Great British Bake Off!

For the Signature Challenge, the young writers wrote acrostic poems using the word
'Spring'…

Safir

Popping

Right

In the shade

Now because it

Got too hot

By Safir

SPRING SURVEY RESULTS

S – Sinful? This person says NO.

P – perfect? – That person says it DEPENDS.

R – Rabbits? – Those people said MAYBE, as long as there’s
no MALTESERS.

I – Irresistible foodstuffs? – They said DOUBLE YES.

N – Noisy? – He said DEFINITELY.

G – Gathering? – She said GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME.

By Kira

Sunlight praising saying hello

Pringles in my belly

Running saying yum yum

I like Pringles

Not even one bit!

Good night I ate my Pringles and what are you going to do

By Jake

Sunlight dances in buttered fields,

Parting gentle stalks of emerald grass as it

Roams through the woods. A hare,

Indifferent, bounds elegantly through

New acorn shoots and chocolate trunks, singing

Golden tales of boundless energy. Spring.

By Aurora

Spring is the season for fresh starts when

Petals grow on flowers and are flattened by the

Rain that follows for

I've-lost count days and you

Never realise how many unless you live in

Great Britain - land of the rain.

By Evie

Simple satisfying

Plainly pleasing

Really refreshing

Intelligibly ineffable delight

Naturally not boring

Great time for joy

By Leo

For
the Technical Challenge, the young writers came up with rhyming couplets for
the lines provided, adding in additional rhyming lines of their own if they
wished...

Fields and woodlands glow with green
All so calm and serene

Flowers bloom, their petals bright
Soaking up all the light

The sky’s a sea of perfect blue
There is nothing more to do

Children hunt for shining eggs
(You probably won’t find them on your pegs)

Blossoms budding on the trees
All the branches swaying in the breeze

On the hillsides, rabbits play
They will feast today

Joy can be smelt in the air
Time to get out of your chair

Nature blooms and spring is here
(A time when many drink beer)

By Leo

Fields and woodlands glow with green,
An artist stops to paint the scene,
Flowers bloom, their petals bright,
They dance in the breeze, they are so light,
The sky’s a sea of perfect blue
I can see a cloud dragon or maybe two,
Blossoms budding on the trees,
The home of fairies to whoever believes,
On the hillsides, rabbits play ,
In the glorious, sunny day,
Nature blooms and spring is here,
It's not raining for once: no need to fear.

By Evie

In the golden springtime sun
Children laugh and have some fun.
Fields and woodlands glow with green
Oh, the sight of a wonderful scene.
Flowers bloom, their petals bright
They gleam in-to the coming night.
The sky’s a sea of perfect blue
Egg hunts start, the children crew.
Children hunt for shining eggs
For more time, the teammates beg.
Blossoms budding on the trees
Oh, they really look like fleas.
On the hillsides, rabbits play
Why, she says, what a wonderful day.
Nature blooms and spring is here
Farmers go, and sheep they shear.
As smiles spread the gathering’s face,
All around, the happy grace.
Birds start singing all their songs,
Oh, the day has been so long.
As the end of the day draws near,
The garden becomes so very clear.

By
Kira

And
for the Showstopper, inspired by a series of great Spring-themed poems from
history (from the opening of The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot to I Watched a
Blackbird by Thomas Hardy, The Enkindled Spring by D.H. Lawrence, Today by
Billy Collins, and Spring by Edna St Vincent Millay), the young writers were
challenged to write their very best poem about Spring, including at least one
simile or metaphor.

Spring arrives like the flies it brings; unwanted,
Unwelcome, and uncomfortable. It swarms around,
Picking at the awkward places to itch and sweating
Rivers through your shirt. Spring pinches, bites,
Scratches, growls, kills. My heart melts in spring, and
Drips out of my feet, oozing quiet contempt as I
Suffer. Mirrors shiver with frostbite, wavering
Images of crumbling skin and sunscreen, flies
Orbiting and crashlanding on a planet mad
With fidgeting. Spring toys with your brain,
Makes you happy while you die contentedly,
Sleeping in the sun.

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SPRING POETRY BAKE OFF!