Still my beating mind
Charlie's Poem, Highly Commended, 8-11 years
HIGHLY COMMENDED, 8-11 years
Who created it?
Charlie, age 11
Biography
“I’m Charlie and I’m eleven years-old. I love football, gymnastics, gaming and music. I started to really like poetry during lockdown and it’s my favourite part of English.”
My creative response
Music and my mind
Lots of ideas twirl around my mind and I struggle to concentrate.
The things I think I just can’t get out and one idea creates another, piling on.
Then I go home and I lie on my bed and listen to music, closing my eyes and my mind.
All the things I think about disappear in a river stream as the lyrics float them away.
I finally have time to appreciate all the happy things in my life and now all the pressure is gone.
When I go back to school, I have a fresh mind and I can take in all of the ideas that will now flow freely around my head.
This is music and my mind.
About my creative response
“I wanted to write a poem in the shape of a brain as I’m writing about how my brain feels and reacts and I thought the picture of the brain looked vivid but calm. I enjoyed finding the picture and then making it the background for my slide and putting the poem’s words on top of it."
"What I like about poetry is how you can choose how you want to express yourself and there’s no right or wrong way."
What does this Shakespeare quote mean to you?
“I think the quote is about how exercise helps calm people down. I wrote about music as that has this effect on me more than anything else, even exercise.”
How do you ‘still your beating mind’?
“My main way of calming myself is music and listening to its beat. If I’m cross or sad, I lie on my bed and listen to music that matches how I feel and get lost in it. After a while, I feel relaxed and a bit more calm and ready. I choose music that I like whether people say it’s good or bad.”
What is your favourite Shakespeare play?
“My favourite Shakespeare play is Romeo and Juliet because it is such a romantic but sad story and it is about young people. I also like the song ‘Romeo and Juliet’!”