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We were contacted by geographer and journalist called Karin Gunnarsson from Uppsalla in Sweden
She made us aware of a local campaign to stop a wood being developed for flats
Geoff sent two paintings to be displayed on the fence and from the treehouse which the people had created in one of the trees
He also wrote two poems to be displayed on the fence and in any press releases
He added words from the poems to the largest canvas entitled – Reaching for the Sky
The idea was to encourage other artists and the general public to add their thoughts on the face of one of the canvases – Woodland Temple
The images and videos here something of the story of what has happened so far
The Poems-
Reaching for the Sky
In shadows
Cast by the trees
Life is at the mercy
Of an ill considered ‘benign’ terrorism
But rebel guerilla spirit
Dwells within the enchantment
Of the woods
Through the leaves
the sun flashes semaphore
Clues to Buddha’s ancient mystery
Hear the songs of the trees
Whispering
Chanting their love of life
Dancing to their own rhythm
Feeding life back into the earth
Passing tree to tree
Mouth to mouth
Searching for that belief
Will the spirit in the wind
Recognise the face
It kisses and caresses
So softly
Who will it count
As one of its own
NO MORE nails plunged deep
Into Nature’s coffin lid
NO MORE spores of destruction
On a relentlessly unchanging wind
Copyright Geoff Francis 2021
Www.enchantedwood.org
Nature’s Gift
Winter wood
stands sentry
over the stillness
hard against
the clear blue
of the day
without each tree
life would be
just breath
without a meaning
for drawing it
The leaves spring
calling from within
their frozen fortress
a reprise of randomly recalled joy
lived once in the same life
refreshing a hoped for future
each moment
a delight in waiting
An inevitable encounter
not knowing
what nature will gift
recognise when nature
gives herself to you
In those moments
you really are alive
That gift may not be grand or dramatic
like a soaring bird of prey
Just small and exquisite
like the light on a rare beetle’s wing
Copyright Geoff Francis
www.enchantedwood.org
Both poems will appear in a new collection edited by David Erdos and called Return to Reason