The Wild Inside: Jane

Congratulations to the winner of our 2020 Wild Inside Writing Competition Under-18s Poetry category: Jane

The Wild Inside

To think that light and chemistry
And gas and leaves
Forged humanity
That this blue air that's soaking me
Reacts inside
And I run free
That in this hill of scree and stones
Are minerals
That build my bones
That burns of blood hydra ting me
Surge like these streams Instinctively
No wonder then, that deep in me
The pulse of life
Beats eagerly
That I can't help but hike up high
Breathe rarefied air
And skim the sky
That ancient paths which roam the land
Are hewn like lines
In the palm of my hand
That rivulets ingrained in me
Are brought to still
When I reach the sea
That soaring peace
Unfurls joyously
When words fall short
And it's just
the wild and me.

• Readers of Wild Inside were invited to submit poetry or prose on the subject of 'the wild inside'. The competition was judged by renowned nature writer Linda Cracknell who said of Jane's winning poem for the Under-18s Poetry category: "This writer has created a great form for their poem, including lovely rhythm which makes it excellent to read aloud, and it's clever, showing the human is clearly part of the natural world."
• Read the other winning entries for our Wild Inside Writing Competition 2020.