The Art of Storytelling: Norse Sagas from Millfield School Pupils #1

First instalment of creative language from pupils in conjunction with #theninerealms

ArtiPeeps

Image by Nat Hall

Year 9: Norse Sagas

Featuring

Olivia and Natasha

.

Our Year 9 pupils have studied the craft of story-telling, and what better way to learn than by reading the Norse sagas, with their epic storylines and memorable characters? We gave them a brief to create their own variations on the Norse saga, drawing upon the old tales for inspiration, but taking them into new territory. Everyone in the English teaching team was impressed by the boldness and skill of the stories our young pupils wrote. Here is [ part 1 of ] a small selection. I hope you enjoy them. Our thanks go to Nicky for giving Millfield pupils such an exciting platform for their creative writing!

James Baddock

Head of English, Drama & Media
Millfield, Somerset, UK

ArtiPeeps is thrilled to be having Millfield school working in tangent with one of our projects (The Nine…

View original post 2,098 more words

The Art of Storytelling: Norse Sagas from Millfield School Pupils #2

Creative Writing from “the Younglings” #theninerealms

ArtiPeeps

Image by Nat Hall

Year 9: Norse Sagas

Featuring

Reanna and Harriet

.

Our Year 9 pupils have studied the craft of story-telling, and what better way to learn than by reading the Norse sagas, with their epic storylines and memorable characters? We gave them a brief to create their own variations on the Norse saga, drawing upon the old tales for inspiration, but taking them into new territory. Everyone in the English teaching team was impressed by the boldness and skill of the stories our young pupils wrote. Here is [ part 1 of ] a small selection. I hope you enjoy them. Our thanks go to Nicky for giving Millfield pupils such an exciting platform for their creative writing!

James Baddock

Head of English, Drama & Media
Millfield, Somerset, UK

ArtiPeeps is thrilled to be having Millfield school working in tangent with one of our projects (The Nine…

View original post 2,145 more words

Midgard: Survival and Destruction 3/4 The Nine Realms- Poems and Writing

Keeping up with #theninerealms – realm 8, Midgard, the one before that of the elves, in the caring hands of @Artipeeps

ArtiPeeps

The Nine Realms

9 months, 19 poets and writers, 22 Artists, 3 composers, 1 Viking boat: a magical reworking of Norse Mythology for contemporary audiences

.

Midgard

(the realm of the people)

Featuring:

Nat Hall, Tom Murphy and Joanna Lee

Tun & Scattald

by Nat Hall

.

Garth,
fae da Old Norse,
an arrangement of long houses with 
smoky stacks,
where farmers grind their
daily grain,
man’s wheel of life around
fire, sun and
seasons,
Voar-Simmer-Hairst [1]
to tame the land,
plant-grow-harvest
before black
leanness
of
winter. 
Around
this lush realm for mortals,
they build their ting [2]
and chamber 
cairns, [3]
harvest from the sea & the land –
scrutinise waves & horizon from
basalt edges of
old rocks,
share
their home with
wandering dead in between
stars & Northern lights.
On either side of
dry stone wall,
tun and scattald [4]
feel a safe 
world:
a
place to be born…

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Song for Tibet II

Fresh from rolling stone:
Song for Tibet II

Pledge music
From the 2015 Art of Peace

Wisdom: -)

Five Photos, Five Stories – Day 5

Final night, and attempt. 

The image I chose fired up my poet’s imagination, as I stood before the very work of art, produced by a locally-based artist, as part of the Malakoff Exhibition last month at our local Art Gallery in Weisdale.

 
I devoted it a blog post not so long ago…

And now to its own poetics-

Shipwright

 No bones, just 

rust.
They say

they nailed you on a wall,

framed inside wood,

sea drifter’s 

dream,

but

as

currents

took you apart,

you lost your legs as 

a sailor, and 

let salt 

gnaw 

through

your rib cage.

What’s come of you

defies earth’s 

tides,

lightless

iris lost in riptides,

your joie de

vivre in

prey

to

dust…

What’s left of you,

but eyes of metal on 

the wall.
© Nat Hall 2015

Thank you for such challenge, Jane Dougherty. Highly enjoyed 🙂

Five Photos, Five Stories – Day 4

 
Kate Bush is fore and foremost a poet, who clads her poetics with equally ingenious melodies in order to create unique music. …A source of inspiration for so many 🙂

For my fourth offering, I chose Kate’s sleeve from Eat The Music, which, in turn, inspired the following piece, itself entitled la grenade / Pomegranate (one fruit I used to eat fresh from the tree in Provence, and mentioned by Kate in her song Eat The Music)  –

It is in mirror, French & English 🙂

 La grenade

Je vais te croquer,
avec mes

yeux,

mes

lèvres,

mes mains;

à cœur ouvert sur

papier mat – à la pointe de

mes fusains, 

là où le regard 

s’accentue pour mieux capturer ton dessein,

toutes tes courbes rouges

écarlates,

toute ta chair 

et tes

pépins,
et toute féline que 

tu es, 

je t’arrondirai 

à la craie,
fleurs du désir entre tes graines,
te peaufinerai d’encres 

vermeilles, pour 

mieux 

satisfaire

mon 

festin.
—-
Pomegranate 
So cute enough to sketch, 

              so cute enough to eat
with my eyes,

lips and

hands,

open-hearted on

mat paper on the tip of finest charcoal,

where your eyes sharpen destiny,

shiny red shapes,

your sensual

flesh and

tender

pips;
and as feline as

you can be,

I will 

increase your curves

with chalk;
Flowers of desire hidden 

inside your seeds,
I will add on

final touches with scarlet

inks to satisfy my

appetite.

© Nat Hall 2015 

Five Photos, Five Stories – Day 3

Let me take you to the edge of a dormant volcano tonight.

  
You need to perch right on its edge to take that pic; it is iconic and always gives the wow effect… 

Now, to the accompanying words

Eshaness –

torn kelp,

coastline, where Atlantic ebbs & lashes,

unleashes wrath against your craigs, cliffs & great geos –

where clouds bypass

granite & teeth of

the dragon,

home for the maverick kittiwake,

ruffled gannet in need of

food…

Let me show you

edge & meaning of the dormant volcano,

le va-et-vient de l’Atlantique.

 #geopoetics #60N 

Five Photos, Five Stories – Day 2

From the lightness of being, to the darkness of despair… Or, is it?

For tonight’s second attempt, I chose a “raw” image – not gore, but dark within lightness. That carcass of life on white sand. Mortality as the finality of life.

 
The poem that accompanies the image is called Bird on Your Shoulder –

and goes like this:

 So many feathers 

outside cage.
Long,

black, broken,

creased, keratin –

inside my book of elements,

jinxes & spells,

blend in

swift’s

tongue with

snapdragon and

asphodel –

tell me

you can dream 

on the wing,

share an

apple

with

a

waxwing,

high on a roof

     with a blackbird.
Chose si belle,
above spring waves,

with storm petrels

that avian

urge to

reach

your

home,

and
lose your way across 

the sea.
© Nat Hall 2015

Five Photos, Five Stories – Day One

Just been embroiled in a challenge by fellow blogger Jane Dougherty to produce an image & words a day for 5 consecutive days,

So,

here is a first attempt, entitled A Little Chaos, after Alan Rickman’s latest cinematographic fresco, which enchanted my senses.

The photograph, taken inside a wonderful hidden garden in my village of Sandwick last summer, appears so apt as an illustration.

 
A Little Chaos

 

Hands inside gloves,

she prunes and 

slashes 

through 

branches 

to find order 

within her heart –

she sees chaos among 

bluebells & lavender,

lost motherhood,

unfinished 

plans;

she

shapes 

her world with

a sickle, 

fashions

landscapes 

inside her shed as

rain runs 

cold…

And

as her 

sanctuary grows

wild or inside

pots,

she looks & dreams, 

there is a light for each 

flower in the 

garden. 
© Nat Hall 2015