Museum of Science and Industry

So Many Ways to Look at a Cotton Boll

It’s a cross between a dandelion clock
and a tree. White kittens stuck
in a tree. White flowers or babies
or brains caught in a tree. Blobs
of snow on a Christmas tree.
A tree full of snowballs, or kites
or scrunched up paper. A white football
kicked onto a branch.

Fluffy clouds making a picture.
Soft white cushions floating,
white angels in the sky.

A pillow leaning against my head
soft cotton running through your fingers
feeling like the fluff you find under your bed
Neah’s hair cut off from the bottom
soft as an old man’s moustache

A baby lamb hatching out of a soft egg,
as soft as a swan, as cosy as a kitten
baby lambs running in the grass
a sheep sitting on a log,
white fluffy chicks, brown claws
grabbing wool off a sheep.

The inside of fish fingers, the inside
of chips. Potatoes growing underground,
cauliflower in a pan. Marshmallows
on a stick by a campfire.
Splashes of milk. Rotten lettuce.

Miss Hatfields T-shirt, fluffy flowers,
children covered in white paint
feathers in pillows, stars glowing in the night
white as angel’s wings, white as the moon
Stuffing from a teddy bear. Frozen tears

By Miss Hatfield’s Class, St Paul’s CE Primary School

You can download an additional poem by the pupils of St Paul's CE Primary School from the right hand side of this page.