Several years ago Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Society were fortunate to receive funding from Arts Council England for a project to create a poetry map of the area along the River Wyre. We took groups of writers on walks along shortish sections of The Wyre Way, a public footpath that meanders along the river bank from Scorton to Fleetwood, detouring in land and passing through Cleveleys at the coast.
We recruited the expertise of several established poets to conduct writing workshops at six strategic stages along the route. Several weeks later, the map was published and participants invited to perform their work at both the launch event and another event during Blackpool's Wordpool festival.
We are very proud of the project, named Walking on Wyre, and the map which is still available on request. It was a memorable experience, many of those published had never before seen their work in print.
The first writing workshop, at Stanah on the Wyre Estuary, was hosted by the wonderful Sarah Hymas who lives close to the Lune estuary and has written extensively about this ever-changing geographic feature. She was commissioned to write her own poem for the publication. The poem that follows was my own contribution to this interesting and constructive part of the journey.
Sampher
Full-bodied women
pickled,ankle-deep in brine,
enticed by salty succulents,
along the tide line.
Red-leggedterns
punctuate pale terracotta
searching for crustaceans,
sand dancing,
reflected in mirror pools.
Keepers of the drowning flats,
they rise to sky
with soulful cries
as sea kissed river returns
Thanks for reading. Adele
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