THINK PURPLE! THINK POETS! www.purplepoets.com poets AT purplepoets.com writer-in-residence Kim Morrissey

Purple Poets Poetry Member since 2007 Ferdous Rahman ........................................................................................................................

Ferdous Rahman Poetry-In-Progress: DANCING WITH THE WIND (poetry in Progress for the LOPSG Capital AgeFestival July 10, 2010) GREEN FINGERS (written for the 2010 Camden Green Fair) second draft 03.06.2010 GLOBAL WARNING GREEN WORLD STRAWBERRIES DRAGON -SLAYER WHAT DO YOU SEE? (Second Draft) (written to celebrate the Bi-Centennial of the Abolition of Slavery, March 25th 2007) Poetry in Progress Project Poems by Ferdous Rahman: First Manuscript editors: Michael Brett, Kim Morrissey, Brenda Niskala (All poems © Ferdous Rahman. All rights reserved) Latest Poems: FERDOUS RAHMAN: Poetry-in-Progress DANCING WITH THE WIND 1st to 3rd drafts written at Cybergate Cafe, Leigh Street 11.05.2010 THIRD DRAFT DANCING WITH THE WIND What a wonderful feeling Dancing with the wind helping me to ignore unjust surroundings. I can make it happen While I am dancing I will change the world The way I want in our way The way for all of us. SECOND DRAFT What a wonderful feeling Taking me to different world. Where nature has its magical touch. Helping me blending within Helping me ignore When I dance I can make it happen Just the way I like it. Change the world in my way I will try in our way The way for everyone first draft FIRST DRAFT I feel like dancing with the wind, Take me in different world. Where nature has its magical touch. Help me blending within What a wonderful feeling ignoring the reality of ignorant surroundings. If I make it happen Just the way I like it. In difficult situations I Want to escape in dancing Change the world in my way I will try in our way to make every one feel Happy FERDOUS RAHMAN GREEN FINGERS (written for the 2010 Camden Green Fair) first draft 16.05.2010 second draft 03.06.2010 My husband wanted To be useful in the garden I said OK, Why don't you weed? He weeded the garden Removed all the flowering plants; Keeping all the weeds. I was upset. But I said Why don't you plant Onions and marigold seeds? Weeks passed, no sign of shoots. Everything was planted upside down. I will buy you more plants, he said Don't worry! Which made me angry. Plants take time to grow Then the winter will follow. Even though it was late I showed him how to grow pumpkins. He became the best Pumpkin grower in the borough. His Pumpkins died too soon. He moved on to trees. Now all round the garden We have his pear trees, his apple trees, Grapes and crabapples Cherries and more .... All his trees remain. He disappeared. FERDOUS RAHMAN GLOBAL WARNING first draft: 27.05.2007 What is happening Does anyone know? Are we going to wrap In a green house? Some say ice caps are melting Some blame it on Global Warming. Mother Nature knows best Which one to protect And which one to waste The rule is the survival For the fittest. Emitting carbon dioxide Blocking the Sun All alarming news We become stunned How are we going to survive? How are we going to thrive? The nature provides More than we deserve Chlorophyll and stress We should increase Use less more we conserve. Ferdous Rahman first performed this poem with the Purple Poets at the Camden Green Fair and Bikefest in Regent's Park, June 3d 2007 FERDOUS RAHMAN GREEN WORLD 27.05.2007 Convert all the fields. A soothing Green Shield Our slogan should be. Produce oxygen from debris Plant more and more trees Create a wonderful world. first draft: Convert all the fields With soothing Green Shield Our slogan should be. Plant more and more trees Produce oxygen from debris Create a wonderful world A green planet to live. Ferdous Rahman first performed this poem with the Purple Poets atthe Camden Green Fair and Bikefest in Regent's Park, June 3d 2007 FERDOUS RAHMAN FIRST STRAWBERRIES third draft 18.05.2010 England is Wimbledon Strawberries Handpicked fruit and fresh cream. British tradition in full swing. STRAWBERRIES first draft 31.05.2007 Strawberries are like Rich colour soft berries With fantastic taste Sorbet, strawberries with cream Spread on hot scone With fresh-brewed tea Cricket, Wimbledon and Strawberries handpicked fruit and fresh cream British tradition in full swing. Ferdous Rahman first performed this poem with the Purple Poets at the 2007 Capital Age Summer Festival, South Bank, London in August at the Jazz Stage.. FERDOUS RAHMAN Dragon-Slayer 19.04.2007 Magic or Myth! Which do you believe? It happened in the past An angelic Saint with a red cross Dragons protect us in the East In the West it's a wicked Beast Oh St. George you made The impossible the reality Rescued people from eternity. Ferdous Rahman wrote this at a Purple Poets Workshop for Saint George's Day 2007. Revisions of this poem are discussed in the Poetry-in-Progress Project. Third Draft: ARTISTS AGAINST RACISM FERDOUS RAHMAN WHAT DO YOU SEE? 03.05.2007 Don't see me as a colour Don't see me as a gender Think about my contribution Treat me as a scholar We are part of the race Live together with grace Multi-cultural and multi-faith Chemistry blended with multi-taste The colour of saffron infuses with spice Fragrance of food floating in the breeze Tingling the taste buds, that's how I see Today's multi-racial Britain. Ferdous Rahman first performed this poem with the Purple Poets at the Camden Green Fair 2007. This poem is discussed in the Poetry-in-Progress Project. more Time Bank Purple Poets This is an educational site. © resides with the author. All rights reserved. West Euston Purple Poets Writer-in-Residence Kim Morrissey. For permission to use any of this material please contact the Purple Poets poets AT purplepoets.com THE PURPLE POETS have co-produced projects with the Wellcome Trust, The Royal College of Physicians, The Capital Age Festival and the Quaker Library.