The writing in this booklet was selected from work written during Windows Project workshops 
held during 2001-2003 at Merseyside playschemes and youth clubs.
 

WINDOWS

Windows allow us to see what's happening outside,
and windows allow people outside to see what's going on inside.

When opened, windows allow breeze to freshen up our faces.
They let us watch people having fun outside

When windows are closed, 
they shut out cold and keep the heat inside.

I'm ever so thankful for windows,
because we wouldn't be able to do the things we do today.

IN THIS STREET

In this street 
I can hear cars flying past like wild elephants.

In this street
the houses sit like sleepy tortoises.

In this street
the lamp-posts stand there like tall giraffes.

In this street
the paving stones crawl like eight-legged spiders
 

HOPE LYTTLE
Halewood Youth Centre

SNOWFLAKE

Snowflake was falling.
It felt like the burning power
of the sun
and melted quickly into mist.

KIERAN
Great Homer Street Library

BILLY THE BIGMOUTH

goes through a hole in the fence

lives in the blue box

talks to himself in bed

about himself

only the birds are listening

when Billy the Bigmouth shows up

he shouts

ANT
Windlehurst Youth Centre

THE BIG ADVENTURE

The girl on the pogo stick went
BOING BOING BOING.

She went so fast, she went under the sea.
The girl said
"Oh dear me,
what can I see
under the sea?"

The face in the ship under the sea
said "I think it is ME!"

NATASHA
Granby Street Activity Day

WE NEVER GET THE BLUES

You know I like to play with you,
I like the way you wear your shoes.
We play shop, just you and me
And we never get the blues.

JESSICA WRIGHT
Calder Kids Adventure Playground

ANYONE CAN HAVE A BROKEN HEART

Anyone can have a broken heart,
      a broken life.

The trick is to mend it.

Singing a song will help.

Singing a song does mend it.

Anyone can have a broken heart

DALIAH
Calder Kids Adventure Playground

THE ANGEL OF LIVERPOOL

The angel of Liverpool
sitting on a cloud
reading a book about Liverpool.

She sees an object
shaped like me.
It is a magical element.

A tiger is hopping on another cloud
trying to catch his tail.

NATALIE
Lee Park Library

FAR AWAY

I was running through the park
across the frozen grass.

My breath looked like smoke.
I could see white mountains far away.

DANIELLE OWEN
Chester Lane Community Centre

IT WAS FANTASTIC

It was fantastic!

I had never seen an iguana before.
Things were making my head spin.

Zack was there.
He was counting the number of potatoes.

I saw cattle 
and a volcano erupting. 

LAUREN HAYMAN
Chester Lane Community Centre

IN THE FOREST

The young brown horse and the old wrinkly fox
had just won a victory from the terrifying lions.

On the floor of the forest they found a book
with covers made of rotting oak.

The horse turned the pages of the book 
then spoke:
a laughing, falling over joke.

EMILY RONSON
New Street Community Centre

PHOENIX

The earth was silent at dawn.
Suddenly it was sun-rise.

Red, blue and yellow filled sky.
The sun burned bright orange.

Flames burned around the sun.
Something uplifted its enormous wings.

It was a strong and powerful phoenix.
It flew higher and higher into outer space -

Across the universe, and then it shouted
"See ya later!"

MICHAEL
Wallasey YMCA

THE SALFORD STREETS

The Salford streets are very dull
The buildings are so very tall
The streets are smoky, the streets are small
The streets are dirty, the streets are tall

People wander up and down
People walk all over town
It's always quiet, it's always dark
The only sound you will hear is the odd dog bark

You never hear anyone talk
All they do is walk, walk, walk 

ANDREW ROBERTS
Derbyshire Hill Youth Centre

THE FACE IN THE WINDOW

I was walking along the busy high street without a care in the world, when I noticed something
peculiar, something odd. It was a face - and I know what you're thinking, well of course you're
going to see faces in a high street - but this was different.
He, or should I say It, was standing in the window, green faced with horns. It was the most
repulsive being I had ever seen, and that includes my Aunty Doris.
As I looked, I was in disbelief. Thoughts swimming around my head, my mind astray. I
tripped over a sticking-out pole. As I fell I knocked over an elderly pensioner.
I said "Sorry," but it was as though the crowd around me had turned into an angry mob,
screaming, shouting.
"How could you be so careless?" one demanded, but my mind was not with me. I was
thinking about the face - it was gone. I did not know what to think, I was scared.
But did I imagine it? Was it there? The mystery to me is that in a crowded street I surely
could not have been the only one to see it. But to this day I have never found out the truth and I
think I never will. I look back in horror at the face in the window.

STEVEN WENHAM
Wallasey YMCA

Sessions led by
Mandy Coe, Ursula Curwen, Mairie Gelling, Trevor Gerard, Judy Mazonowicz, 
John Hughes, Sabine Knapp, Chanje Kunda, Kevin McCann, Sue McIntyre, 
Mick Moss, Michael Murphy, Susan Phillips, Love Phiri, Eleanor Rees, Nan Trader,
Glyn Wright, Dave Ward, Curtis Watt.

The workshops were funded by:
Knowsley Borough Council, Liverpool City Council, Merseyside Play Action Council, 
Wirral Play Council, Neighbourhood Renewal Community Chest and SPLASH;
with grateful thanks to the following whose donations helped to make this programme possible:
The Sydney Black Charitable Trust, Pilkington General Charitable Trust, United Trusts in Merseyside, The Wedge, The Wethered Bequest.