Video Transcription
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''I'm always looking for new ways to bring the written word alive, to make it integral to the environment it describes. My Driftwood Poetry Installations begin by collecting driftwood from the beach and then sanding it down, writing poems upon each piece and leaving them in a time clock upon the beach - and then I love to watch how people interact with them. Today, I was on the beach at the Millennium Coastal Path in Llanelli & before I'd even finished, a small child, with Mum and Dad, came to watch what I was doing. I heard the mother say, 'Go and ask the lady,' - and the child came over and asked, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'I am writing little poems on pieces of driftwood, so that people might find them and it will make them happy. When the sea comes, it will wash away all that happiness and take it to other places.'
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The father said, 'Isn't that lovely.' The child looked at the drift wood and then looked at me, so I took one piece from the sand that said 'you are loved by the trees', which was one of the lines from the poem. I said. 'Would you like this?' and I handed it to him. The mother read it out loud 'You are loved by the trees!' (chuckle) with a great big smile. As they walked away, I could them saying, 'You are loved by the trees, WOW you're loved by the trees.' Just one line from a poem will stay with that child likely for his whole life. So, I climbed up on the hill overlooking the installation, I love to watch how people interact with the poetry, when it's part of their natural environment. There si something so powerful about bringing together the poetic sounds of nature, with the poetry of the human soul.'' Cheryl Beer
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