Strong and flexible, each year I grow and make a new ring.
I capture carbon before being made into this and that thing.
I hold up roofs, in ships float across seas. The mill
makes of me: toothpick and door, desk, paper and pencil.
Then, composted or mulched, I feed mushroom, microbe and worm.
Though moulded by humans, as nutrients to soil I return.
About the poem
Original poem by:
Professor John McAuliffe
Professor of Poetry and Director of Creative@Manchester
Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester
John McAuliffe’s poetry collections with The Gallery Press include The Way In (2015), winner of the Michael Hartnett Award; ]The Kabul Olympics (2020), Selected Poems (20220 and National Theatre (2026). John is Professor of Poetry at the University of Manchester, where he founded the Centre for New Writing with novelist Ian McGuire and is also Associate Publisher at Carcanet Press. In Jan 2026 he was appointed as Associate Vice-President (Cultural Portfolio) at the University. John has led the creative development of poetry as pedagogy for the RoundView, crafting poems into teaching tools and mentoring the team to develop their ability to blend words and meaning.
Dr Joanne Tippett
RoundView co-Founder
University of Manchester
Joanne is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Environment, Education and Development at The University of Manchester, and Founder of the social business Ketso. She began working in community participation and ecological planning in the mid 90s in Southern Africa, and has won numerous awards for innovation and social impact.
She was granted a British Academy Innovation Fellowship with the UK National Commission for UNESCO to catalyse transformative sustainability learning and engagement with the RoundView.
Dr Jamie Farrington
Research Associate
Jamie has contributed to the development of RoundView approach, learning tools and poetry since 2019, starting with archival research to inform the Unintended Consequences exhibition at Quarry Bank, National Trust. As a Research Associate in Planning Property and Environmental Management at The University of Manchester, he was seconded to UNESCO Manchester City of Literature, testing and developing the RoundView in libraires and civic spaces. His past research focused on the medical and environmental history of Quarry Bank Mill.