The Art of Storytelling Workshop
The Stove Network - What We Do Now Network - Winter Gathering 2025
Leading a creative writing workshop and formulating a collective poem from words and phrases written by the group in response to a series of narrative questions and objects as catalysts for the imagination.
What We Do Now - A collective poem
A mountain with a winding track that never gets to the summit
Relentless omnipresent
Closed jargon curse
The Prison Shrine
Black
A kingdom with no sun
Flat
Enchantment
Fear
Anticipation of the worst
Of succeeding/failing?
All the individual countries of Britain
A climbing frame - solid yet fallible
High tidelines
Negative pot holes
Achievement, desperation and progress
Overly efficient
Old school thinking
The Dam
Stuck in its ways
Pompous, arrogant
The local landowner Lord Grimsby
Entitled, rich
Rigid archaic imitation
Don't care antipathy
Ignorance and misinformation
Subsidies encourage poor practice
Farmers
Discard plastic all over land
Don't care about nature
The mist rolls in
The sound of a crunch under every footstep
Past the Post Office
Next to the hidden badgers
Crows and cows
Magic unicorn meadow
Peaceful: a place where
Re-inventing the known is welcomed
Partnership
Within a sub-culture
Closeness
Big sky, seashells, saltwater
Mysterious, entrancing, motivating place
Inspiration Kingdom
Magic fairy lake
place as buried secrets in her depths
A place of imagining new connections
<-Connection->
From the past to the future
A fire made of eternity
Empowerment from the past
Bringing worth and strength
Rain forest woodlands
Lots of undergrowth
New trees protected from deer
Mushroom Whisperer
Running free
Across a track made by pioneers
Wet, wet, wet
Colours bold, humid
Green, shapes
Nearby loch
Autumn leaves are falling
Ebbing tide
Axe of death
And life
A river
Ribbon unravels
Circles on circles overlapping
Cogs of stitched memories to be seen by the world
Nooks and crannies
Place as an embodiment
Hills and valleys
Reflection of those within it
Not operational in a traditional sense
Venerable, displace, circular
Cairn, wet and misty
Wind licking through your hair
Fissures
Ridged, tonal and mottled
Joseph
A carrier of old messages
The Self: The Critic: The Cynic: The non-believer
Buttress: Inspire: Guide
Stairs to other worlds
Strength to carry away
Force out breath
Disperse companions
Freedom: decision making, funding, partners
Money: time, opportunity, training
Dream worlds
Letting go
Enjoyment potent
Beauty of edges and falling into space
Reflection of self
There are no mistakes
A rumbling of change
A tunnel towards ...
A well of great depth
Mermaid cove
Light
The feeling of sunshine on your face
Safe and warm
Cliff top
To bring things to light
Wild geese form arrows in the sky
The smell of fish and chips
Loud and quiet
The good and chatty folk
So here we are
Magic paint brush - can paint anything to life
Opportunity to play
Curious exploration
It can allow the holder to picture what is happening
Somewhere else in the world
It can cause the end of civilisation
It can change the tides.