This poem was written by a high school student at Callendar House in September 2025, during a workshop delivered by Never Such Innocence, in response to Diana Forster’s art exhibition Somewhere to Stay.
Thatched hooves are a lot better than I thought.
The damp doesn’t reach me here
You know
If I close my eyes
Then for one brief moment
The fear disappears.
—–
I’m back a home
Walls of stone
The canvas days are gone
A crackling fire
Cackling higher and higher
Til I open my eyes
And…
—–
Thatched rooves are a lot better than I thought.
Ok, I find the occasional straw on the floor
But generally they seem to hide me from war
The straw so tightly knit
Joined at the hip
Until one unties,
Falls down past my eyes.