from ‘Introduction’

‘Poetry acts as a playground for me to try and imagine a better future... to explore what our world would say if it could talk back.’
— young poet Aliyah Begum

This anthology showcases the winning and commended poems from four of People Need Nature challenges on Young Poets Network. The challenges, all set and judged by experienced poets, take a range of approaches to the environmental theme, inviting young people to see and give voice to the natural world in novel ways. In ‘The Hill by the A13,’ set amid COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, poet Gboyega Odubanjo prompted young poets to mix the human and natural worlds, while in ‘Soundworlds and Songscapes,’ poet Polly Atkin encouraged closer attention to our surroundings, including the sounds made by birds, animals, and plants. In ‘The Influence of the Earth,’ nurse and poet Romalyn Ante explored the idea of social prescribing, inspiring poems about how time spent in nature can make someone feel better. Louisa Adjoa Parker’s challenge asked young people to write poems imagining natural solutions to problems caused by the climate crisis.

from the back cover

Poetry can’t reverse climate change breakdown. But, as nature vanishes all around us, young poets are planting seeds for the type of world they want to grow in.
— Daniel Clark, young poet