Seven pupils from Lismore Primary school have been published in “Playground Poets” which features the work of 7-11 year olds from all over Scotland, each one a prize winner in the 2005 Young Writers’ Competition.

Lismore Primary School is the sole representative from Argyll and Bute and all the children in the year are published in this edition or scheduled for the next. The imagination, energy, and depth of feeling in the poems are very impressive and a tribute to the quality of teaching and encouragement the pupils have had from the school and from their teacher Jennifer Baker.

 Jennifer is a very experienced teacher who has taught English at all levels; she is impressed with the responsiveness and ready access to their creativity she has found in the Lismore School.

This is a book every 7-11 year old would love to read and is available from Ottakers.

Sadness

“Sadness feels like you are nothing,

It sounds like a lot of voices talking,

But none of them to you,

It tastes like vinegar, sour on the tongue,

Sadness feels like nothing.”

Eilidh Willis 9 

Fear

Fear is dark blue

Like a cold sky.

Fear smells like

Rusting metal.

Fear feels like a cold blade

Being pushed thorugh you.

Fear tastes like sand

From a dry desert.

Murray Willis (11)

                 Steam Trains

   Listening for the steam trains hissing brakes

           As it pulls up at the station platform,

           When it sets off it rattles and shakes,

          I feel really warm with fun and laughter,

         The smoke stays behind a long time after,

Along comes the ticket man clipping all the tickets,

           I trust the steam train strong and fast,

                    How long until we get there?

                     I hope the journey will last?

Joe Derham 11

  Trapped!

 The wind blew the sea into angry waves,

        Houses shook, windows creaked,

       The tree so tall fell on my road home,

                         I was trapped!

Two strong men with torches came for me,

         Clambering through the branches,

                     Now I’m safe at home.    

John Carmichael  9

Anger

      Anger feels rough and dim,

       It makes your eyes fire-red,

           It smells spicy and hot,

           I cannot control anger.

   It’s like I’m living in a dark place

And I’m stuck forever in this small room.

                    When I get angry

The sky goes black and everything burns,

                I cannot control anger.

     It smells like burning smoke

And it makes me want to breathe out fire,

                   I must control my anger

        The world must control its anger.

Calum MacGillivary   10

Sadness

Sadness is a light shade of blue,

Sadness is like the last leaf of the old oak tree

Falling to the ground,

Sadness sounds like a repetitive beating in my ear

That I can’t escape,

Sadness reminds me of the sun setting

And not coming back,

Sadness feels like the cold, salty spray of the sea

Landing gently on my face.

Sadness is a feeling that is very powerful

And can only be used with great emotion.

Keiran McLarney  11

                      Space

                       Space is cold and black

                  Like a massive, dark bottomless pit,

It is so huge it feels like the ocean on a midsummer evening.

                 The sun and the Earth are so different;

        Earth, a marble, spinning through time and space.

  The sun is like a glowing lamp, lighting up space around it.

               I feel like I am weightless, floating in space.

        I feel so tiny and insignificant, space is all around me,

      I feel like I’ll be sucked up, with all the planets next to me

        I feel that space is incredible, stretching out beside me.

                                          Space is great,

                               Tremendous and dominant.

Emma Sanderson    9