As far as I’m concerned you can keep ‘Paris in the springtime’
or ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’, ‘Autumn Leaves’ is the song for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnp58oepHUQ
Autumn is my favourite season. I love the bursts of bright
sunlight and flashes of colour paired with a cold nip in the air. I was born in
October, coming in the world as my grandmother was leaving it, naming me as she
went.
A few years ago Sophie Shillito gave me the opportunity to
devise a creative writing session for Kew Gardens in October. Each session would be twenty minutes long, be
for all ages and include some scientific explanation of why leaves fall from
tree. Creative writing would be next to yoga and a willow weaving tent
surrounded by trees.
I thought I would share the session outline.
‘Lines on the Leaves’;
a twenty minute exploration of what happens when a leaf falls from a tree (with
some scientific explanations too!)
I often mark the beginning of a session with a chant, a
rhyme or a poem. This session begins with some lines from Emily Brontë which
we all spoke together.
Fall, leaves, fall;
die, flowers away;
Lengthen night and
shorten day;
Every leaf speaks
bliss to me
Fluttering from the
autumn tree.
Some questions. How do we think a tree and a leaf in
particular tells the time? What makes a leaf decide to fall?
During the discussion weave in the words abscission, anthocyanin, senescence and
their meanings. (They were written on laminated sheets and dotted around the
tent)
Thinking about
how a leaf might fall from a tree – does it glide on the wind or belly flop as
it is caught in a shower of rain?
Everyone is invited to demonstrate their leaf’s journey with
their hands in the air. Sound effects too!
Next, with some
art materials and paper map out the journey and mark on it three places. In
these places note the leaf’s reactions, thoughts or feelings or write a word or
phrase to describe what is happening.
Share our ideas.
Hand out a leaf
template and offer the chance to transform those words/ideas or feelings
noted on the leaf’s journey into a poem. They could include some of the science
words too. Or just sound effect or just colours or just a prop for telling
someone the story of your leaf.
Sharing some of our lines on the leaves
Final question –
Where does the leaf’s journey end? Does it land with a bump or a soft landing
with its fellow leaves? Is it blown off course or…….?
That was the plan. At first one or two people came along
and soon the tent was packed. Some
people just wanted to colour, some were intrigued or already knew about the
science. The textures of the pile of leaves drew others or the chance to make a
whooshing noise. Some left. Others stayed and wrote several poems. One toddler
amazed his dad by repeating fall, leaves
fall and another terrified me by trying to eat the charcoal!
It was such a wonderful experience, not least for the
experience of walking through Kew Gardens on a sunny, cold autumn morning.
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