As part of Oadby Library's National Year of Reading Launch in July adults and teenagers were invited to join in with two poetry workshops that were run by Leicestershire's Literature Development Officer, Kerry Featherstone.

The workshops received some fantastic feedback and people were surprised at just how easy it is to get the creative juices flowing and produce great poems.

Three poems from the Teen workshop are displayed below.

Have a read and see if they inspire you to get writing.

Animals that are warm-blooded, pink fluffy

and soft clouds of candyfloss.

Organ systems that are tall blonde beehives on a head.

Mammals date back to a gigantic fat bouncy castle.

Pre-historic times, when dinosaurs were

floaty weird purple stuff:

a red punch-bag ruled the earth.

Darwin was credited for discovering the end of the garden.

The theory of evolution of mammals

is in the city during the day.

Mammals come in many sizes, hanging

on the end of

a tree.

Mammals have adapted to long, thin and soft; they

suit all situations in a semi-detached house.

Some have become extremely advanced,

at school in the cooking classroom.

Others not so much, i.e. chickens, that are slimy

tall,

       red…

      and jiggle.

It is a fat duck that you need,

because, when I eat it for Christmas, when I need it,

it grows long hairy legs and walks away from table;

it ran out the house.

It is a thing that you play with in the bath.

It quacks when I don’t need it: when you squeeze it

it appears right in front of me, in a plastic pond,

reading the newspaper with Grandpa Duck.

EVIL THINGS night be looking for me (e.g. Grandpa Duck

or my little brother).  

It ate my fish and it chases me down… you don’t want to know!

Then it chased my little brother down England.

It’s fluffy and my one’s yellow.  

What you want never comes.

You feed it bread,

And if you don’t it will bite you.

You means you and we means we, and

WE saw it in the Queen’s bathtub (in the end the Queen drowned it).

Aishwarya Rai is my fav and

Devina Tailor is a girl actress,

mean girls and I know that comes

(Devina means celebration).

Of my fav films, people have to come to my school.  She…

(different tastes of films) is also a friend of mine.  

Hollywood films are spoken in the word…

When I think of English bollywood films,

the name Devina is spoken in Hindi.

In lollywood films you can watch them on t.v.  

(and I think of happiness or celebration).  

She has green eyes and (in cinemas you can buy it:

a DVD is black), medium-length hair.  

She has got a good sense of (Hollywood film:  

Bride and Prejudice) stylish clothes.

Devina means celebration.  

(and I think of happiness...)