Forest Tongue

I am leaves

I like to dance with the wind

which is cold and wet now

but I believe

it will turn to warm and sweet one day      

I hope that day is not too far

under my body

I can feel the trunk

I am a trunk

I live in dirt and mud

they full of nurtrition

I have lot of leaves

I can feel them dancing on me

just like a spider

I am spider

I live on the web

I use web

to find my dinner

I am hungry now...

I can’t wait to make a bigger web

I am web

I often swing with wind

I can feel the spider on my body

I grow on the green creature

I am a green creature

a centinal observing

watching over

providing protection

I was brought here in 1973

to stabilise and remediate the bank

overtime my community has grown

now we are many

my fallen comrades lay beneath me

logs as homes + invitation

I am the log

I provide a seat for travellers to rest their weary legs

and a space for them to sit and ponder what ever is in their head

or you can tie a rope around me and hang me from a tree

and people can come and swing and play on me

I stay in the same spot, whether its dark or light

I aslo provide a home for temporary white

I am temporary white

I live on logs and branches

borrowing nutrition from them

I love moisture

which is important for us to survive

I will look for other places I feel comfortable more...

oh, I can see something that might comfort me there...

that’s rock

I am a roc

I am strong

I am dirty with soil

I am soil

- particles, gases, liquids & bugs

put together in different mixtures

I anchor trees & plants to earth

I hide bugs & animals in tunnels and runways

who is currently trying to make [their] way through me?

the roots of a new tree

I am still alive tree

I fell down one month ago

but I can still drink and eat

and some insects come see me

sometime

humans notice my leaves

I’m leaves

I’m falling down on ground

on the ground

there are some stones

I’m stone lying on the soil

I’m hard with my other family members

perhaps a burned trunk is lying next me

I am a burned trunk

I used to be a part of a tree

I was green and alive

in a cold fall day a strong wind brok me down

I became a firewood for a lonely man

he lit a fire with me

now he left me and returned to the city

I am the city

I house this forest on my steep slopes

I house the people who visit this place

my yellow stone is in stark contrast

with the many colours of the forest

I am leaves, a trunk, a spider, a web

I am the green creature, the log, temporary white

I am a rock, I am soil, I am a still alive tree

I am leaves, stone, a burned trunk

I am the city, I am the forest

Authors

A collaborative place-based relay story from Gateshead Riverside Park, transcribed here as crafted and captured in place on Monday 06 November 2023, between 11:00 and 13:00 GMT, by Jiayuan Chen, Lili Connor Ruiz, Lotte Dijkstra, Ellis Douglas, Barzin Geravandi, Kazusa Hayashi, Jiaxin He, Tianyu Huang, Asako Kumabe, Stef Leach, Qinyan Li, Qujian Li, Miao Liu, Jialiang Ping, Usue Ruiz Arana, Wenlu Sun, Zhenyu Tian and the more-than-human beings and vibrant matterings present.

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I AM LEAVES

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I AM ROCK

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I AM TEMPORARY WHITE

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I AM SOIL

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I AM STONE

• I AM LEAVES • I AM ROCK • I AM TEMPORARY WHITE • I AM SOIL • I AM STONE

For a moment, we allowed ourselves to experience an interconnected moment in this urban forest place. We investigated the more-than-human connections in and with Gateshead Riverside Park, using our bodies, personal stories, and collaborative place-based explorations. During and after each prompt, we record our responses. This is the urban forest story we uncovered.

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