Planting poetry in a secret garden

A series of stunning poems about the plants, animals and landscape of St Mary’s Secret Garden is set to be unveiled this weekend.

Over Easter 2013, 14 local children, aged between 8 and 12, worked together with professional poets at the Ministry of Stories to create the poetry trail. Their writing takes inspiration from St Mary’s Secret Garden, using a form known as mesostic poetry.

As you explore the garden, you will find a series of poems naming plants or objects, created as specially designed labels.

Guest poets Malika Booker and Rachel Rose Reid worked with the children to create their poems, helping them to explore sensory language and oral storytelling about animals and nature in different parts of the world. The project was inspired by poet Alec Finlay’s Mesostic Herbarium.

The poetry trail has been designed by the amazing people at Burgess Studio, and will be unveiled this Saturday 20 April, at 1.30pm in St Mary’s Secret Garden.