Poetry from a field near Hembury Woods

For many years I've attended a singing camp in Devon, both as a participant and now (in my aged state of 21) a member of the team who helps set up, take down and manage parts of the land. The vast majority of people who join us on the field will tell you it's a deeply profound experience to live in such a close knit community that, for a short time, is pretty much cut off from the rest of the world. It's an emotional thing to feel like you're coming home to people you barely know when you consider how little time you actually spend together, and yet it happens pretty universally.


Many of us use the 10 days for (among other things) letting out our creativity in the form of singing, writing, music, but for many years my chosen outlet during my time there has been poetry. It's become a bit of a ritualistic tradition that I take a brand new notebook with me when I go, and for those days on the field every thought I have that I deem worthy of scribbling on paper goes in this notebook.

What's happened over the course of many years is I actually have a rather large number of poems I love that have been written on the land.


And I've reached the point where I would like to do something with them. I'm currently combing through these old notebooks to put together a collection of poetry that will, I hope, portray the emotional impact of being surrounded by a community that reaches far beyond the land it grew on. It will at least display my experience of that phenomenon. Stay tuned folks, it's on the horizon...