EXAMPLES OF WORK
Swansea Writing Squads
Marmite – love it or hate it
Swansea is like Marmite
You love it or you hate it.
It took years to build it
Then to remake it.
Hit by vandals,
Hit by war,
Frozen by crisis,
Left to thaw.
Swansea drinking
At ten in the morning
Hitting the town
While others are yawning.
Skateboarders fall in Castle Gardens
Ripping knees apart.
Is it a crime you see there
Or is it just street art?
Smashed glass outside a bus stop
Glinting in the sun
A golden orb in the sky
But often almost none.
Swansea is a tub of Marmite
Half empty or half full?
Maybe?
Swansea like Marmite
Love it or hate it
Or write poetry with it.
James Lawson, age 12
Bishop Vaughan RC Comp
In Swansea I Am!
In Swansea I am,
With the knots in the wood and
The rust on the chains.
With the 99s melting and the
Seagulls flying high.
In Swansea I am,
Where a couple walk hand in hand
And a lonely man sits by the sea.
In Swansea I am.
A tree sways in Brynmill Park
A crane moves robotically as if blown by the wind.
In Swansea I am.
A man on the beach admires the yellow sand
While the sun blazes on the sea.
In Swansea I am.
Where will you be?
Leah Sell, age 10
Ynystawe Primary School
Then and Now
The docks to McDonalds
Then and now.
The footballer shattered to the ‘Hed’
Then and now.
The drunken sailor whose ship sailed without him
Then and now.
Now you tell me?
Jack Howard, year 5
Oystermouth Primary School
The Bad and the Good?
Swansea.
Sweet and sour.
Who can find a lucky penny on the floor?
Someone.
The phone is ringing all day.
No one answers.
Swansea.
Long days and longer nights.
Swansea.
Running and walking.
The rest of the world washed up on its shore.
The green grass dancing in the sea breeze.
The wind breathing in and out.
Who can stop grinding their teeth?
Who can stop the pins and needles?
Megan Frost, age 10, Year 5
Oystermouth Primary School
Damned and Blessed
Swansea, strange, nice town with the damned and blessed.
The oily chip shops and the oily docks.
The boats are bobbing and Wind Street’s thriving.
This is the land of the damned and blessed.
Old advertisement boards peeling away
and brand new offices brooding.
The faded red phone box with the phone dangling,
and Woolworths’ abducted O.
This is the land of the damned and blessed.
The cigarette butts on the street and the Goths outside McDonalds.
The cars are zooming, zooming, zooming.
Is this the place of the damned and blessed.
Are these doors closing?
Caitlin Lazenby, age 10
Oystermouth Primary School
Two Sides There Are
People say everything has two sides…
Faded red phone box, the phone dangling down
A pair of chattering girls, sharing secrets on the town.
Two sides there are, two sides there are…
Families enjoying the beaches by day, the tide laying alone by night.
Two sides there are, two sides there are…
A spider web lays untouched on a bench,
A crowd pours from a local pub.
Two sides there are, two sides there are…
Troublemakers graffiti outside a busy Quadrant,
While people try and avoid them, turning a naked eye…
Have you explored the sides of this broken-down, built-up town?
Gabriella Clarke, age 12
Morriston Comprehensive School
Broken and Repaired
The City nestling on the golden Welsh coast
Wrestling with its contrasts.
The spraycan art of Swansea town and the missing ‘O’ in Woolworths,
Swansea is broken then repaired, broken then repaired.
The population of heavy smoking teens,
And the young adults displayed on the stage of the Grand Theatre,
Swansea is broken then repaired, broken then repaired.
The littered glass of a smashed up phone box
And the generation of internet communication.
We all see the problem, but who will see the solution?
James Charles, age 11
Casllwchwr Primary School
Swansea
Swansea this is,
The ugly, lovely town etched on the train station floor
and the graffiti on the bus stop saying Tina ? Terry.
The traffic at the roundabout
Dogs on the sand, chasing their tails.
Swansea this is.
Chewing gum on the prom leads
To a bubblegum pier.
The melting ice creams in young hands
And the young hands held tight in old hands.
Swansea this is.
The buzz of the city and the smell of the sea.
The noise of the nightclubs and the silence of the night.
Who will find something buried in the sand?
Caitlin Thomas, age 11
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School
Then and Now
Then and now
The pubs and the Kardomah
The drunken and the sober
The howling and the beautiful
Then and now
The copper and the metal
The smoke and the wind
The fire and the flames
Then and now
The broken glass and St Marys’
Window blinking in the sunlight
Has the bombing ever stopped?
Quillan Thomas, year 6
Pontybrenin Primary School
Everything in One Pot
Everything in one pot,
Modern office buildings down by the marina,
Gloating down at the mouldy and graffiti covered buildings,
Everything in one pot,
Building work speeding ahead,
Leaving behind the sleepy terraced houses,
With just a radio mast as a friend.
Everything in one pot,
Unfinished food exploding out of unemptied bins,
Competing against the nurtured Civic Centre.
How far can this city stretch?
Sophie Quinn, age 11
Whitestone Primary School
Clean Skies Over Cracked Pavements
There’s a gap in this land,
With the bright new shops and the old, abandoned buildings.
With the shirtless violence and couple hand in hand.
There’s a gap in this land,
With the crowded city streets and the empty sweep of beach.
There’s a gap in this land,
With the cracked pavement slabs
and clean sky holding innocent white clouds.
As I walk through the gap with all the secrets it holds,
what else is here, what more don’t I know?
Lauren Morgan, age 12, year 7
Pontarddulais Comprehensive School
Is this Swansea?
The true Swansea I see
Its heart being broken,
As new life is formed.
Sun shining on this beautiful town,
Revealing its bitterness and hope.
The drunks fumbling and mumbling,
The lovers holding hands as they walk
Down the beach.
New estates being formed
To steal the life from
Old houses left to crumble
Forgotten for all of time.
Is this the true Swansea, I see?
Gabriel Cura, age 11
Bishop Vaughan RC Comprehensive