Images: Zena Edwards @zenaedwardspoet

*Sacrified*

Lichen’s university

Vanilla, parchment, linen, ivory

Microcosm city, towering

Fungi, the clipping sonic, knitting fibre with wood, mossy, intricate filigree, teeming

Pill bug, millipede, crane larvae, moss midge fly

From here, a stump navigated by ivy

Fallen in the battle with borough

Aborial maintenance. Housing association mansions want gardens, when a tree is eyed

as a chainsaw’s meal, the garden’s paths

will have chip wood in wet January,

The chopped twin, “you or me?”, asked

Its standing brother tree. “I have no choice, but

I’ll have a new voice,

For a new local tiny eco-city.”

Written by Zena Edwards, poet

www.zenaedwards.com

#iPhotoJournalZenaEdwardsPoet

#NaturePersistsPoetryLondon

#NaturePersists

There is a lovely community garden near the cricket grounds. Its has winding pathways that open out into seating areas, a small pond and a children’s play area.

Pay attentions and there are little things created, like this mosaic on the wall keading into the garden’s office.

A few metres away, there is another space. Maybe by the same landscapers? The giant hand lay relaxed as the gateway that welcomes you in, into the garden...

I look forward to visiting there in Spring🌻

Zena

#TheGreenThreadStoryline

💫✍️🏾📒🌿

A draft went out by mistake.

Take Two! 🙂

I wanted to do nothing but share this video clip of a small rainforest ecosystem I found in a disused barrel at a retreat while studying permaculture techniques with The Word Forest Charity.

This is the unedited version but watch out for an extended post about my what else I discovered at this beautiful old converted farmhouse.

~Z💫✍🏾📒💚 ~

I wanted to do nothing but share this video clip of a small rainforest ecosystem I found in a disused barrel at a retreat while studying permaculture techniques with The Word Forest Charity.

This is the unedites version but watch out for an extended post about my what else I discovered at this beautiful old converted farmhouse.

https://youtube.com/shorts/8PTnc6uGTpo?feature=shared

Over 2023 and 2024, I created and facilitated a poetry film course and competition called Synergy Slam Poets, in partnership with Apples and Snakes poetry organisation.

It was, and still is, a dynamic series of workshop masterclasses created with younger audiences in mind.

As with my other Nature Persists work, it required I go out into the city and notice the natural world in urban environments.

These trees and hedgerows are aesthetically pleasing. The light was right for filming with my Samsung A33 mobile and the fresh rainfall sent a charge of inspiration to my creative synapse and filmed on intuition.

For Synergy Slam Poets, I wanted there to be a mature space younger voices for quick expression of thoughts and feelings that are creative reactions to our ingrained environmental awareness when we live in cities or big towns.

These quick reflex actions to ‘seize the vision’ can contribute conversations around sustainable cities and impact how we feel about the climate crisis without losing the heart of creativity. Our creative flair can sometimes get bogged down in the weight of a sense of responsibility.

If you are a creative, your responsibility is to create to honour your well-being. Anticipate ripples of love and appreciation to come back to you when others are come into contact with your manifested expression!

Synergy Slam Poets was, what I would call, born from the Nature Persists ethos. In short:

“Nature Persists’ programmes cultivate creative practices that ignite the imagination to promote hopeful narratives about humans investing in culturally future proof cities for generations to come.”

Synergy Slam Poets: TREES really did becime a labour of love and my attention to city trees has increased exponentially.

As part of my research for this program, I came across this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Millay was popular as a poet for her engaging readings and performances, her forward thinking in politics and non-binary gendered societal experiences and her views on women’s voice and expression.

In this poem, I feel Millay asks if city trees could be heard speaking over the noise of the urban life, what do you think they would say?

City Trees by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892—1950)

City Trees

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

The trees along this city street,

Save for the traffic and the trains,

Would make a sound as thin and sweet

As trees in country lanes.

And people standing in their shade

Out of a shower, undoubtedly

Would hear such music as is made

Upon a country tree.

Oh, little leaves that are so dumb

Against the shrieking city air,

I watch you when the wind has come,—

I know what sound is there.

For more information about Synergy Slam Poets, visit the website:

www.synergyslampoets.com

And follow on Instagram @SynergySlamPoets

Follow Nature Persists Poets on Instagram too @Nature.Persists.Poets

www.naturepersists.com

#EcoPoetry

#EcoPoetOfThe1950s

#SynergySlamPoetsTREES

#SynergySlamPoetsPrograms

It is almost like the beat of a large bird of paradise or a mythical chimera with a wingspan of a valley.

🔊Listen to the poem here 🔊⬆️

This poem, Ghazal With Rain And Birds, by Shazea Quraishi, caught me by surprise with it's swaying sonic refrain - "a gift, bright with the melody of birds."

My breathing slowed.

On second reading I was enchanted by the visual and kinesthetic imagery of the fifth byat, or stanza, brought there by the musicality of the Quaraishi's ghazal voicing “…caught in the arms of a tree”.

I will be exploring the poetry of the Ghazal and other "equatorial" poetry form—namely poetry from countries on or near the equator of our planet— in Nature Persists over the next few months.

Watch this space!

~Z💫✍️🏾📒🌿~

In summer, I woke at 5am and walked to my local park and around the city of London for up to 10 hours to capture images of nature in the city.

In the diminishing hours of light in Autumn into Winter, I woke at 6, 6.30am to witness nature persisting. For the same number of hours, with a good packed lunch and dinner. A insulated cup for ice or hot water from cafes and bars I pass by…

By walking and talking to people, I have internalised Nature Persists as a concept over the last 16 - 18 months for intrepid exploration in all weathers when I first thought about it in October 2021 with Ian Solomon, May Project Gardens.

In 2022, I formalised it as a website page.

Synergy Slam Poets was born from Nature Persists in 2022 and ran in partnership with Manchester’s Young Identity and with Apples and Snakes poetry organisation from 2022 to date.

Today, I sit in my local All Day Breakfast Cafe 🙂. It is a lovely - and I mean, a wonderful Family Business - I drink tea and ideate Nature Persists Young EcoPoets workshop program.

It begins on Saturday 13th December 2025, 1pm to 2.15pm Venue: TBC.

For more details email me: zena.edwards@gmail.com

Please copy the email to naturepersists@protonmail.com. This helps with admin documenting for a self- employed poet educator Thank you!

WRITERS LEVEL: From ‘Beginners to

‘I-written-spoken-word-poetry-before!

Find out more about Nature Persists -

www.naturepersists.com

How about this as our first writing prompt?

Watch the video below and answer these questions creatively.

What creature comes this close?

Doesn't mind that you tower over them?

That accepts a sultana, a walnut half

And acts as if it knows you first name?

Audio: “Sault” - I Surrender.

#NaturePersists

Instagram: @nature.persists.poets

~Z💫✍️🏾📒🌿~

Telling the story we want to tell with our own poetic voices is a rewarding way to share newly discovered knowledge around important eco-issues around soil health.

This article is an introduction to some of the themes and topics we will talk about in Nature Persists. We'll be focusing on soil for a while because it is the foundation upon which our homes are built.

Soil Health

Where soil health is important in urban environments is in our local parks, small and hidden natural spaces such as local squares, commons and greens and community gardens. No one wants to see poorly discarded waste or see the negative impacts it has in those spaces.

“Soil health is defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.” - Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture

The image for the above quizz was taken not far from where I live. There were road works there, tackling the issue of a leak from the underground river that run under the roads. Not sure how deep down , but this photo gives us insight i lnto the layers that exist beneath our feet.

The layers are structural, ensuring that the road can bear the weight of traffic pummeling earth each morning and rush hour early evening.

It is also the same soil that would have heard the clatter of horse hoof and wooden wheels as industry boomed, for the modern railways and steam trains that brought more indusry to the area. Lives will have been lost and millions would have been made because of the labour of the men, women AND children of the south east area of London during the 1800’s an 1900’s where this image was taken.

Writing Activity

• Layers Beneath the City:
Reflect on what lies beneath in the literal and metaphorical soil that supports your life in the city.
What histories, forgotten roots, or buried memories might be found under pavement and buildings in your local area?

• Human Imprint and Regeneration:
Consider how urban soil bears the marks of human activity
— pollution, construction, and decay. How does the soil mirror the resilience, damage, or renewal?

Go outside (if possible) or imagine standing on a familiar piece of city ground — a paving stone, a park path, near a construction site.

Close your eyes and picture what’s beneath your feet.

Let each stanza uncover something new — an object, a memory, a voice, a buried dream.

Let the soil tell its story — what it’s seen, what it has yet to reveal, what it’s trying to grow again.

HINT: Write a poem that begins “This ground remembers…”

Have Fun Writing.

Thanks for your comments and subscriptions!

Zena
💫✍️🏾📒🌿

Click to listen to Yi Sang's poem, “Precipice”, read by Zena Edwards

As I begin a new journey into craft that speaks directly from the gut, I want to share a stage in the process. (Big thank you to Verbal to Visual CEO Doug Neill.)

To learn a craft in the public sphere is daunting, but it also gives others permission to do the same.

Poetry First Throes & Verse Throws is me throwing down my first thoughts and poetic sentiments after having just read a poem. The educator-critic is still sleeping, and the Zena who simply loves poetry has space.
#TakeTheFloorIfYouPlease

This first piece is revelatory.
How do you — if you do — lean on nature during dire times?
It is apparent for poet and artist Yi Sang in his poem “Precipice.”

What is this precipice he speaks of in this poem?

If there are political undertones, they are well disguised.
A little research into the time he was born—under Japanese rule—and the sensibilities of his personality empowers our understanding of this piece. We come to understand why poetry such as this would have been — and still is — written.

The principles of Nature Persists are evident in this olfactory poem. The scent is a vehicle that transports the author, Sang, to an imagined final resting place, which implies a deep fatigue.
All is playful but deeply imagined and demands little — just peace.

My exhalation at the end of reading this poem came from a place of my enjoyment of the scent of flowers. Floral, citrusy, and a little sweet is my preference.

The Camellia flower, depending on the breed, ranges from citrusy to a rich, dense vanilla and anise aroma. In my first response, I imagine the latter because I read three other of Sang’s poems that relied heavily on the moon as a central element. If he wrote at night — when it might have been quiet, safer — the white Camellia was the logical flower to imagine he wanted to rest in and to add to this First Throes.The cream-white of the Camellia reflects the moon, and Sang is struck by his own awe of the aroma — so much so that he wrote a poem.

My poem “Don’t Walk By” is really a tribute to the flowering Mirabella tree that releases its scent at night, attracting nocturnal pollinators — moths and beetles, sometimes even bats when it is in fruit in May. The scent is sweet and very floral. It is one that embraces.

I relate very much to Sang’s sentiment of gratitude also. I look forward to next spring. I anticipate stepping into the company of the Maribella and smelling its scent in-person because the memory of it is potent.

Sang also speaks of “really lying down” and remembering the powerful perfume of the Camellia without needing to be in its presence — as they would have been a rare sight and experience, especially as walking at night would have been uncommon in occupied Korea.

I am yet to discover a satisfactory meaning to the title, though
Why Precipice? I’m sure I will return to the poem again, and a penny will drop. This is the first throes of appreciation I give towards this poem. And the “Don’t Walk By”, written in Spring this year is the Verse I ‘throw down’ in response.


This is a Nature Persists Project poem.
Please leave a comment or a like.

Written by Zena Edwards 🌿

#NaturePersists @Nature.Persists.Poets
#FirstThroesVerseThrows
#iJournalZenaEdwardsPoet

I’ve been lucky enough to know a few wonderful people who are writers, poets, and makers of “good things.” I also wanted to share with you all was to invite a couple of these amazing people to have a discussion about how we’re talking about the climate emergency, ecological shifts in consciousness, and the ways artists—namely poets and writers—are responding to both.

Here, I am speaking with Flo Hedlam, who has exquisite knowledge of garden landscaping—bringing another rich layer to our conversation about how humans shape and are shaped by the natural world.

S. Reeson, poet and ardent Substacker at No Gloss... No Veneer, No Filter’ by the Internet of Words who gives us their unique insights into the themes of our discussion - the Gaia Theory and aesthetics of the nature: wild or overproduced displays.

This is a first of a Nature Persists podcast series entitled “The Green Thread” in which I invite others to look at how we consciously and unconsciously, and intuitively, weave together stories of connectedness while envisioning our cities as ecologically sound sanctuaries.
Don’t miss my next episode and feel free to reach out with your comments!

Have a great weekend,

~ Z🌿 ~

Canada Geese

Two necks forming
the shape of a heart
I cannot see their heads in the fury of spray
In thr thunder flurry of feather
Sense says they were under water.

Doing a little research I find out
That in the peak of mating season Canada Geese
Are aggressively territorial
Discover that in extreme cases, beyond the head bobbing posturing
the red tongue hissing, and neck pecking
That, if not on land
they will push each others heads under water

I raise my hand to my mouth,
And found my sensitive self saying it,
"Oh, my God." - both heads are below the surface
beating wings - thousand mile migration muscle strong
beating breasts, echos in quick succession
The dull thud of distant firework explosions
Without the sparkle,
Over the border somewhere

Before they were in full view
I had jokingly said, "Hey... no violence...!"
But these are male Canada Geese
In the belly of their animal, in seasonal ritual ,
a raptor community, captured in memory
In their world I had no place.
Knew my place.

It has been another long morning and afternoon tracing my steps back to the park I enjoy morning walks in. For the last week or so I have been hearing the honk and bark of the Canada Geese in the park about 8 or so minutes walk away from me, (very lucky me).

I've found myself looking back over my shoulder, if I happen to be walking back from somwhere. Or turning and lifting my head, stretching my neck as if it helps me hear a little better sitting on my couch in my house, as it will help me to hear the reason behind the commotion. It is an alarm call, I guess. I gather. Then back to scrolling. I am affected though. Curiousity ripples on my senses.

There have been a couple of times, when I have been walking next to the lake and I have heard them, the wall of sound of it—honk is such an unfortunate word to describe thier call—but the shrubbery had hidden the reason why they are so loud. So urgent

Today, I was meant to find out why. I made a podcast about this. A 3 minute sound byte about what I discover is a rare case of extreme aggression
A little warmed by shame that I laugh at a certain point in the recording but incredulous shock needs an outlet
Or else it will lock in the body somewhere.

* * *

Today, I saw a crow scramble with the mouse, throwing up dust and claw shredded, tufts of grass and dandelion leaf
on the concrete covered front yard
of a tired row of terraced bedsits
on a busy road, near the tyre replacement place, near the roundabout, near the chip shop, near the shuttered whats-its-name place
near the barbers, near the rolling eyed launderette

it flies off with mouse in its beak,
its little tail twirling like a rotary lawnmower string

I saw these things today.
Nature Persists

If you think this might be something you can enjoy learning more about with me then subscribe, follow me on Spotify, or YouTube. When you subscribe you'll get access to other exclusives, with competitions and give aways.🏆🎁🧧

~Z💫🎧✍️📒⚡️💛~