The Zigzag Path by John McCullough / BBC Sussex

A tree in Preston Park hung with trainers is a mark of changes to the natural world.

A listener’s blog about the bigger changes in life has inspired this poem about confronting the unexpected.

John Mccullough says, "the inspiration for my poem came from reading a radio listener's blog about her struggles with big life changes that had been forced on her. I wanted to write a poem about confronting unexpected changes and did so through natural imagery taken from local parkland, including chalk paths, bluebells and a tree that has been hung with trainers.