Message from the Head of Teaching and Learning
‘Slam’ or ‘Traditional’
Poetry Perfected: A Celebration of Talent at KWS
In the 27th June Edition, I wrote about Year 9 ‘changing the narrative’ and discovering their ‘inner awesomeness’ as a result. Although writing poetry was outside of their comfort zone, a significant number of Year 9 students composed poetry and entered the Red Room Poetry Object 2018 Competition. Red Room Poetry is Australia’s leading organisation for the creation and commissioning of new poetry by established and emerging poets as well as students. This term, we discovered that two of our students had been shortlisted - The winners will be announced during a live-stream video event on Thursday 6 December 2018, in partnership with Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences (MAAS). Winning poems will come alive in an animated short film to be screened during the Winners Announcement and released in cinemas Australia in December 2018. In the meantime, I wanted to celebrate and share with you all, the two poems that have been shortlisted – ‘Mahogany Bones’ by Maddie Hook and ‘Turning Point’ by Lila Pearce. They really are a reflection of outstanding talent but even more impressive, they are a result of the students’ real passion and perseverance – qualities that determine success.
Mahogany Bones - By Maddie Hook
When the piano-maker crafted my grandfather
Gently bending his mahogany bones
He was not constructing, he was creating
Bringing him to life,
He gave to me a guardian
With a life most complicated
Whose love never outdated
But who now lies in the ground ill-fated.
When I was young, I’d dance upon his golden feet.
Neat, petite, my path to the afterlife.
They sat there, quaint, to prolong the sound
Of the piano, but could not prolong his life.
My grandfather’s laugh roars and groans,
Rattling his mahogany bones
Like stones
And the tones of his voice echo as he sings,
The sounds flowing grandly through his strings.
Mother pats my head and smiles and says, 'My dear, Pa’s dead, you see.'
But as I close my eyes, hold his ivory hands, the music shapes his face
And I face the fact that though he’s gone, she’s wrong
He’s still here with me.
The notes he sings, changing in modulation
A complication of detailed intonations and different tongues
For the songs of others whose remain unsung.
My grandfather’s laugh roars and groans
Rattling his mahogany bones
Like stones
And the tones that he sings makes the music truly sting
I know now, he soars with new wings.
Turning Point - By Lila Pearce
a simple pile
of paper and ink
unassuming at first,
'mediocre', you think.
You’re wrong. This saga
of courage and strife
will first change your mind
and then your whole life
eight days in
you’ve finished the book
you’re a bird to the sky
a fish on a hook
and you can’t know it yet
but this is the start
of a sparkling new era
your young life’s best part
six years in
you’re smarter and sadder
the work’s a bit harder
the world’s a bit badder
but you still have your memories
through trouble and strife
when a book changed your mind
and then saved your life.
and you’re now stepping out
to a bright new day
you’ll change the world
once you know the right way
books were your refuge
your reason to live
they gave you so much
now it’s your turn to give.
Mrs Serena Lewis
Head of Teaching and Learning