StoryTree In Conversation Archive
StoryTree In Conversation offers creatives a chance to publish their writing/artwork, create new work, and engage with other artists.
Contributors submit writing or artwork for the Prompt Pieces. They then receive an anonymous Prompt Piece and create a New Work inspired by it. All of the Prompt Pieces and the New Works are then published together in a magazine with reflections from the contributors sharing how the pieces inspired them.
Please enjoy a full set of work from StoryTree In Conversation Issue 1, featuring a Prompt Piece by Georgia Francis and a New Work and Reflection by Hoi Sham.
StoryTree In Conversation Issue 1 is available for purchase here.
Firewood
Whistles of wind ruffle my hair.
Soft gasps of summer air
split the sunlit strands.
I watch the axe.
Cold and glinting
in his heavy,
rigid hands.
Above, swallows twitter
and dart through trees,
picking at the bark.
I watch the wood chips fall.
My gaze wanders
with the lilting breeze,
to the mahogany,
capsized on the concrete.
The yellowed keys
glitter in the sun;
the wooden trunk,
stretches to the blue above
and withers
in the ebony shadow
of his eclipsing frame.
I watch him wield his weapon.
Metal and oak
hack through melodies
whispered
in the collapsing throat
of my captive piano.
300.png)
I Watched - Reflection
In creating my New Work, I drew direct inspiration from the poem ‘Firewood’, responding to its vivid imagery and emotional tension through a combination of physical and digital processes. I began by painting the base of the artwork with acrylic paint, using expressive and gestural marks to convey the rawness of the poem and its focus on physical materials such as wood, metal, and fire. Within this painted layer, I depicted a figure holding an axe and smashing it into a piano. This image directly references the violent dismantling described in the poem and symbolises the destruction of something once associated with creativity, harmony, and emotional expression. The forceful action of the figure reinforces the sense of inevitability and loss present in the poem. I then collaged images of flames sourced from magazines onto the surface. The fire imagery represents destruction, heat, and transformation, echoing the idea of the piano being reduced to firewood. Fire also suggests a loss of control, reflecting the emotional intensity of the speaker who is powerless to stop what is happening. Once the physical artwork was complete, I scanned it and continued developing the piece digitally using Photoshop. This allowed me to manipulate and layer elements in a way that extended the themes of fragmentation and instability. At this stage, I incorporated scanned sketches of eyeballs, layering them throughout the composition. These eyes reference the repeated line “I watch” in the poem and emphasise the act of witnessing something intimate and painful without the ability to intervene. Through the use of transparency, blending modes, and overlapping layers, I created a sense of depth and movement, mirroring the shifting focus of the speaker’s gaze. Overall, this mixed media approach enabled me to translate the poem’s themes of loss, silencing, and forced transformation into a visual form.