Students wrote these wonderful poems in just ten minutes after listening to Rachel Rivers Porter reading ‘Wall of Water’ from ‘Kiss of the Tsunami.’ The author encouraged pupils to think about their senses and jot down words and phrases that struck them as being vivid and emotional, then weave these into a poem.
Hertfordshire and Essex High School and Science College
Stay with me. Separating families looking and searching, lost in the wave when tragedy hit. Surviving along the sea of mountains. Hand in hand run away. Keep your family close. When the ginormous wave hit I lost them all. Alone, scared, heart in destruction. I will never give up the fight for survival. I will find you today or the next. Looking and searching, lost in the wave when tragedy hit. Surviving along the sea of mountains. Stay with me. (Kelly-Anne)
Pulled back sharp like the string on a bow, with a roar and a shriek the sea lets go. Ripping, tearing, intense fear pounds. Lost in the water will I ever be found? Shattered, lost, broken, afraid – the water tore apart the life I had made. Trees whip in the wind, the boughs crack. Where is my family? Will I ever get them back? (Jessica)
The dark cold sea racing towards me crashing into everything in sight. The sea of despair compressing all living things and sweeping away our world. Why now? Why me? Why us? The rushing of time. We can’t escape the horror. 15 countries. 250,000 deaths. We will miss them. We will never forget. (Sophia)
The tide recedes and time stops. Then it jerks forward – the sea, a foaming beast looming over me. A sudden unexpected crash and I’m under the water in a flash. The world goes black, my muscles slack. Will I ever come up again? (Olwen)
Silence suddenly falls. A powerful crash of white foam and water slams down. Frozen with fear. What’s going to be the outcome? (Maddie)
Mother Nature has no mercy. Fear strikes through the streets: contagion of panic. Scrambling to hold onto life. As the wave caves over, I take my last breath. Blinding light. (Evelyn and Jasmine)
A wave of tragedy, of loss of life and hope. It pulls apart as it tears through villages, through trees, through people. Stealing the landscape. Mothers holding their daughters running hand in hand. Desperate screams tear through the air. So much noise. Then silence. (Gigi)
The ocean is rising, yawning in the dawn. It’s fleeing into the day, then crashing, racing into my life. And the ocean gives me a kiss a kiss to send me to sleep. (Amelie)
My heart feels as if it is plunged into my stomach when I’m flushed into the water. I can’t breathe. How will I ever get through this? (Tabby)
The ocean is growling and growing fast, then it explodes all around. Tragedy hits. (Lily)
Staring at the killing machine, worrying for my life. It was unreal. A kaleidoscope of memories hit me. (Eloise)
Safe. Waves. Grief. It’s racing too fast. Shock. Sadness. Death. I will find you. (Eva-May)
Raging waves bring horror and destruction. Babies are crying, mothers lying in pools of dark foaming water. My feet are frozen, terror is approaching. Scrambling to my feet, I try to escape. Will I escape the crashing waves? (Annabel)
Scars across my body. Screaming for help. Eyes wide and scared. But there’s no-one there. (Christy)
Mother Nature has let loose and she’s ready to pay for Hell. My heart is pounding in my throat, my eardrums are ringing from the water’s bloat. (Megan, Kate and Ibby)
A story of hope, survival and fear – what awaits for the survivors? (Alina)
Bishop’s Stortford College
Awake, alert, suddenly staring. The wild waste of water creeps up behind me. The black tower of debris crawls over me. Everything disappears: sight, breath, sound is all gone. (Beau and friends)
Liquid shadows weaved through leaking hearts, rushing through the gaps of the abyss of life. (Alex, Tash, Lewis and Oscar)
So powerless. Losing the time in the hourglass. Fate slipping away in a time lapse. Hope growing weaker. The truth seeker. (Hannah, Zara, Bente, Imogen and Cree)
The tragic events began to unfold, starting with a tremble in the ground. Underneath the seabed a wave began to mould. No-one knew whether they were going to be found. (Charlotte, Liv and Thea)
The crashing waves churned up the shore, striking fear into the hearts of all. The sea’s mighty jaws swallowed me up. I knew I’d be no more. (Kushi, Olivia, Olivia T and Madeleine)
Need to escape the raging rapids. The wave pulls you down like being sucked into a plug hole. It feels like a millions clamps are pushing you down into the ground where you could stay forever. (Lily, Jasmine and Eva)
Devastation. Destruction. Lives were lost, lives were saved. Rapid water rushed through untidy land, waves tore like terror. (James)
A tsunami is quick like a heart-beat – it takes you by shock, it whisks you off your feet. The speed of the wave and the bubbling foam – not even a rescue could save you from breaking a bone. (Fenton, Bissell, Charlie, Jack and Harry)
Filthy hands claw at floating debris. Roaring waves and screaming children flood streets. Dead sea creatures float on the surface, empty horror filling cold eyes. The tsunami has hit. (Rose)
Rising fast, coming soon. The birds are no more singing in tune. A wall of water hits the shore. The Moken houses seen no more. (Rebecca, Bea, Steph and Hannah)
Summer’s day turns into night. The water surrounds us. Cold, dead, frightened. Coming up for a single breath. Gurgling out white froth from deep in the throat. Silence. (Ella, Prettney, Issy and Emma)
Dying fish on the sand, as confused as the holiday makers: the sea has gone. Then terror is filling hearts. The loud roar of the waves mutes screams. Then it is dark, now and forever. (Freya)
The Kiss of the Tsunami – watch out! It’s coming for you! (Ava, Lola Theato and Naomi)
I see the black waves swelling towards me. I’m frozen to the spot. It feels like I’m in cement. My heart is filled with adrenaline. (Alex, Yuissifi, Max and Luve)
Thunder rumbled after a moment of peace. Buildings trembled. Screams and shouts all around. The wave of terror ate them up. (Thomas, Marcus, Conor and James)
The waves started crashing in, breaking everything in their path. God please forgive my sins. My house is replaced by a black bath. (Aaron, Rory and Greg)
Crashing waves eating everything in their path. Innocent people. The black wave summoned from the dead. (Matthew and Jamie)
The wave of black junk eats everything. (Leo and Peter)
Crash! Crash! The tsunami falls. Bang! Bang! It takes down your walls. Run! Run! The waves keep coming. Build! Build! When it is done. (Gbemi, Rohan, Elliott, Henry, Ryan and Joseph)
I’m sitting on the beach trying to relax when my dad yells, “Move, get away!” I’m in the direct path of the tsunami- this could be my last day. (Iona, Eloise, Imogen and Georgia)
As the waves are crashing by the sea, a monster is waiting there for me, in the ocean where I can’t see. I’m scared for it will swallow me. (Naomi, Laura and Morayo)
The enormous wave crashes over the beach destroying everything in its path. The water is black with debris. Bodies are whirling around in it. I flee for my life. (Ollie and Jamie)
A deadly force of nature, feared around the world, devours people in its path, leaving devastation in its aftermath. (Daniel and Matthew)
Framwellgate School
I freeze. A huge monsoon of water rushes towards us. People scream, terrified, running for their lives. A white foamy mass of water destroys the lands beneath my feet. (Emily aged 13)
It’s an explosion of screaming, people clinging to everything in their path, hope has left them already. Chaos is all around, the beach has gone, the world is lost in a terrifying light as it destroys. (Caitlin aged 12)
Trembling I hear the roar of the monster. The white froth, the thunderous sound, it was all happening too fast, too loud, too soon. It was like we were the plug, all the water rushing towards us. (Drew aged 14)
My eyes were glittery with fear. It was like a massive ocean screaming coming for us. My heart was frozen. People were hanging on for their lives, yelling for help. It was as tall as an astonishing tower sweeping for me. (Lawrence aged 12)
The world seemed to crack as oceans and land collided. The water basked up for another attack, the world subsided. Throughout the town items were flung. The world sang in pain and screamed like it was insane. (Harry aged 14)
The wave bubbled and frothed, twisted and turned, swallowing and churning, eating all life. (Nicholas aged 12)
My stomach clutches as the multi-coloured figures sprinted past, the water is so loud I can’t hear screams, the monster is rushing, moving so fast. I gasp for air before the water drags me back, my body shatters onto the roof like glass, my life flashes before my eyes, I hear all the sudden cries. (Meghan aged 13)
Like a thrashing monster destroying everything in its path, as if it were a plague of fear it spreads quickly. The sound of screams is swallowed by the noise from the ocean, The Tsunami, the hurricane of water devouring all in its path.
Torture of Poseidon emerging a blazing wall. People evacuating swiftly as a thirty foot monster engulfs us all. Zeus blasting thunder. (Jake aged 12)
A giant monster rages towards us. Panic wipes across people’s faces, I hear the sound of children screaming in fear. I freeze, shaking, staring at the angry mob of foamy water approaching, I come to the terrifying realisation that I might die. (Alicia aged 14)
Horrific, scary, devastating, unreal, a giant explosion and a monster is born. A whirlpool of rubbish is swallowing buildings whole, exploding into fridges, cars and knives, the sea monster has turned into a metal monster of horror. I see a child disappear then float to the surface. Horrific. (Conner aged 12)
The ocean explodes. Frenzied crowds, rapid water causes chaos, devastation of the frantic waves. Heart hammering whirlpools. (Meg aged 11)
Tourists run a flock, screams echo. The sea rises like a wall, a wave thunders towards us. The resort is swallowed by a monster. (Cameron aged 13)
The ocean is hungry for buildings. My stomach turns inside of me, I must run for high places and tell other people to RUN! Suddenly the waves explode. Luckily I am safe, standing on a shallow balcony, waves crashing beneath me. I breath in and out… waiting for the horror to end. (Jodie aged 13)
Tension bursts through them. Foamy sheets of bubbling white frothy chaos. Petrified as everything slams. (Kiera aged 11)
I am intrigued: the sea is no longer where it used to be. The thunderous wave is speeding towards me. I know I’m going to die. The strong river demolishes a street, it even makes a car fly. The terrified screams are camouflaged by the roar of the waves. I know I’m going to die. (Megan aged 14)
Bubbling water touched my feet, I clenched onto a palm tree in disbelief, The white line in the distance had come so close, The whispering eye is so fierce. (Hope aged 13)
Large waves, frothy water. Clash of Titans. Death has caught her, horrific, terrifying, unreal. Nothing can survive destruction, cries for help can’t be answered. (Ethan aged 11)
The rush of water thunders past, swallowing everything in its path. People scream but there’s no sound, cars are swirling round and round. (Laura aged 14)
Objects fly past my house, fear overwhelms me. People’s screams are stolen, nothing can save me. (Rachel aged 13)
Ringing lingered in her ears, her looming death was palpable. The crashing waves made it impossible to hear, chaos shook the land. Death. (Emma aged 12)
A gigantic wave is crashing down, many people scream and frown. Lots of cars flying in the air, people falling in despair. (Dale aged 11)
The thunderous water crashed towards me. Trembling, I heard the sound of the wave, frozen, I blocked out the noise of the screams. It all happened so fast. (Angela aged 13)
Frothy bubbles are huge, destroying everything it its path, water turning dark, grey foam rising high. People hold on in fright, climbing onto cars and vans, sand disappearing in seconds, waves shooshing into people. (Charley aged 11)
The once blue waves now black crash towards me, I tremble at the realisation of this is how I might die. I block out noises of the waves and screams and stand frozen, ready to be sucked into the depths of the sea. (Lucy aged 13)
Children gushing with terror. Sea covered in thick black froth. Yells filling my ears. Suddenly nothing. (Eirinn aged 12)
Thundering wall of water, crashing flock of horror. Terror tackles the heart, the beach has vanished. (Helen aged 12)
Thin white sheet, fish flapping on beach, water vanishes in bubbling white foam. People climbing onto cars, monster attacking. Buildings trembling, roaring thunder, whirlpool of rubbish.