Humans Need a View: Poetry that Shines a Light on the High Weald National Landscape

A view of the High Weald landscape from Mayfield

When you stop, look around and take a moment to take in the view around you, how does it make you feel?

It can be hard to sum up how we feel about a place and its importance to our lives, which is why in 2024 the National Landscape Association commissioned Laurel Prize ecopoetry winner Jemma Borg to write a poem about her favourite National Landscape. She chose the High Weald.

This September, as part of the High Weald Walking Festival, Jemma will lead a walk where you can experience the views that inspired her poem, 'Humans Need a View'. In this article, we sit down with Jemma to find out more about the writing process.

Living in the East Sussex High Weald made the High Weald National Landscape a natural choice for Jemma's poem—that and her love of trees. Jemma explains:

"I chose the High Weald because it's where I live. I love being among trees and the High Weald is one of the most forested parts of the UK. With its woods, streams, springs, hills, valleys, the area is very beautiful. Every day, I take my dog for a walk and there are places to stop to take in the view or to feel close to the cycle of the seasons. Trees are important to me; they're such magnificent beings, living on a completely different scale of time and size to us.

I find that engaging with and deepening our connection with where we live is so important and as a writer, it gives your writing an authenticity, especially when you're writing from an environmental or ecological point of view."

"It's said we have to love what we want to save. The beginning of that is to look and see deeply."

So, what is it that drives you to write about nature in your poetry over other themes?

"I write about nature firstly because that was my background—I was a biologist. Add to that the awareness of the precariousness of animal, plant, fungal and microbial species in the face of climate change, pollution and the destruction of natural landscapes. I also think of humans as nature, not as something separate; even culture is nature. And I write, to at least some extent, with the context I find myself living in, and as I live in a rural area, it's inevitable that there are lots of woods, ponds and places of dappled light in my writing; these are the things I'm seeking out. I believe everything living around us is fully capable of feeling too and I really want to make that connection between us and what we see; there is no 'other', just a complicated variety of life and experience."

"The local is key to the global and to not feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenges we face in the world today."

What was the writing process for this poem? Did you sit at a desk, or was it a flash of inspiration in your favourite spot?

"The poem and its title came out of a walk around Mayfield that I took with Gerry Sherwin and the High Weald National Landscape team back at the end of last year. That was the beginning for this poem—being out at the location. I was looking for something to grab me beyond what I'd written about the landscape in the past, which was a lot about the wetness of the landscape, its springs and groundwater (see my book 'Wilder').

It was while standing on the ridge, looking out, and seeing the 'nurse trees' (the two oak trees surrounded by young saplings of lots of different trees), that Gerry said, 'humans need a view'. I felt challenged to explore the reason for that. A poem sometimes will have an actual encounter like this to set it off, but not always. I took my photos of the view back to my desk and started writing, researching and pulling the threads together. I did look at some other viewpoints to explore that 'feeling' that I was trying to get at—the sense of calm and belonging that was very soothing. Then, finding the form for the poem is important and listening to what it wants to say in that form."

When I listened to your poem, I felt a sense of connectedness and knowing, even in this uncertain world. If there was one thing you'd love people to feel or think as a result of your poem, what would it be?

"I don't think the poem directly answers the questions I was asking, but that's what poems are like, they impart a meaning that isn't necessarily in the words themselves, but comes out from the words; in the same way, we often remember the feeling of a dream rather than the dream itself. I think that that sense of connectedness you mentioned is what I hope is left by the poem. But a poem can always do unpredictable things depending on its interaction with the hearer/reader, and all responses are valid and fascinating. I think if someone is moved to go and find the 'nurse trees' that would be great. It's said we have to love what we want to save. The beginning of that is going to look and see deeply."

Humans Need a View - Read by the poet, Jemma Borg

To learn more about Jemma, her work and the views that inspire her, join Jemma and the High Weald Team for 'A Walk with a Poet' during the High Weald Walking Festival 2025.

Find out more about Jemma Borg's work

Jemma's previous works include Wilder (Pavilion, 2022), which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and was a Laurel Prize for ecopoetry winner, and The Illuminated World (Eyewear, 2014). Most recently, she's been part of an ecosonnet chain which will be published by Whaleback City Press later in the year. You can find this online at https://newbootsandpantisocracies.wordpress.com/. For more information, go to her website www.jemmaborg.co.uk.