We commissioned writer Bernadette McBride to reflect on A Sense of Green. Her creative response is the following poem, inspired by the púca: a creature of Celtic, English, and Channel Islands folklore. Púca are said to (sometimes) bring good fortune and offer help to rural and marine communities. Shape-changers, they were believed to take on the appearance of horses, goats, cats, dogs, hares and even human form - along with animal features, such as ears or a tail!
This poem follows an imagined púca of St Helens and Knowsley, visiting some of the sites of A Sense of Green.
Listen to the poem
The púca
púca / shapeshifter / olde english goblin /
bringer of fortune helper of rural communities /
if conjured the right way /
transformer of human and non-human forms /
is the púca /
one as particles of old colliers moss as peat or coal /
depending on mood or which part of the past the púca feels /
most pulled towards /
two as the mycelium of stanley bank wood ‘shrooms /
threading and boring /
into and against the strong roots of trees /
networking /
connecting /
mycelium magicking/
metamorphosing /
three as dropped green embroidered threads into the leaves /
of halewood /
ever lush vert cotton fibres /
swimming /
in the direction the wind blows the tree's last leaves /
along a rainwater risen made lake /
like lost things /
trying to find their way home /
or onto a stitch or picture /
one that is beautiful /
and does not hurt to look at /
the púca traverses the lands and times of the post-industrial revolution /
becomes the past / present / future
the púca at colliers moss /
deep dives into the slag heaps and the old remnants of waste /
left behind by bold colliery and bold power station /
both long gone in name and institution /
yet not in memories physical or emotional /
their colour of what once was still holds fast /
in an almost perfect black circle /
marked on the earth /
drawing out the body of one particular old slag heap /
where no more things grow /
except at its circular edges /
and artists trace out on a white forensics sheet /
the bodies of flora that once were there and now only grow nearby /
with charcoal /
blurring and binding the edges of where life once met and left /
and then returned again /
reeds are remembered and memorialised laid out in the space /
but some are also still standing /
straining towards the sun /
and the ones that are surviving /
púca becomes them /
feels them /
those who live beyond the black circle’s frayed edges /
and now and then /
a willow tit sings a lament /
with a hope for better tomorrows /
piu-piu /
the púca spirit recasts itself /
as local beings and more-than-human objects /
to speak to the people of saint helens and knowsley /
and offers up a message /
that history still lives on /
in the land and the body /
and the particles of before reborn /
can become the future /
the púca at stanley bank wood /
swims downstream and transmogrifies /
into gymnopilus junonius (spectacular rustgill) /
colourful wood rotter ‘shrooms /
marking the bases of the trees that are lost /
and carrying their life sources on /
then after /
with the transformed energy /
words are written to gather /
human attention /
on the canvas of ganoderma applanatum (artist’s conk)
and people dance in groups imagining they are mycelium /
connected /
working together /
communicating /
in environmental /
kinship /
the púca at halewood park /
becomes the messages spoken /
and shared /
as rain and words fall /
from the mouths of /
community /
sewing hands /
recreating embroidered imagery /
of natural life /
and myths of king arthur and felled trees /
floods and retribution /
through simple stitch /
but with a thread /
that runs through everything /
every one /
being
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