Statuesque

What would it be like to be a statue? Today we find out! The challenge was to imagine you are a statue such as Robbie Burns or Queen Victoria and to write a poem from their point of view - what they see, feel or think. We then went one step further and imagined we were the harbour molars, the controversial teeth sculpture on Portsmouth Drive. An interesting session ensued!

ROBBIE BURNS STATUE

Encased in stillness

Larger than life

Quill in hand

I know I'm in strife

There's so much to see

With my unseeing eyes

Overwhelmed by events

And the seagull's cries.

Surrounded by theatres

So much going on

A church, some cafes

I would die for a scone!

- Pauline

QUEEN VICTORIA 

Sitting so regal and tall

I watch my subjects pass me by

Are they listening to me?

Are they watching me?

How I act, what I say?

I was a Queen for 63 years

I also was a woman, a mother, a wife, a friend

Where are all those people now?

I remember, they are up in heaven with me.

- Gail

THE TEETH

Blustery today,

Sea spray all over me,

I am cold and wet.

At least the sea spray washes away the smoke

from the cars that roar past me.

I have a grand view, 360 degrees, although only

half of me can see at a time.

The sea is blue and choppy and I can see some

small boats bobbing up and down on the water.

Hills surround me at a distance, green with trees

and houses dotted on them.

Sometimes I feel cracked and blue, rough to touch.

Why am I here?

Do children look at me and vow to brush their teeth?

So they don't have teeth like mine - big, full of holes

and rough on their tongues!

I hope they take notice

It's too late for me.

I am here for eternity.

- Gail

I AM QUEEN

They think they know me

standing here.

But do they really?

As they whiz by in their cars?

I've seen people walk by

and stop to look.

Those on horses and in cars

rarely do.

Why did they put me here?

I'm not even facing the Gardens

named after me.

I'm facing the toilets!

What an unsavoury position for a Queen!!

- Christine

THE ROYAL 'WE'

Her majesty

uses the royal 'we'.

I am a statue

Attracting bird poo.

Ruler of the world

In a grassy field.

Who said there was a glass ceiling?

It is to a woman you're kneeling.

The sun never sets

on my empire.

Only by death will I retire.

By statue, immortalised

Forever, in stone attire.

- Phillip Porteous

TEETH FROM MARS

Whitestone

Ivory bone

For all to see

By harbour and sea

Naturally decaying

Watching kids playing

Picnicers and birds

Avian turds

Green grass and cars

Teeth from Mars?

Now on Earth

Giving people mirth

The plaque

Leaves its mark.

- Phillip Porteous