Luka Lesson Live

“I’ll close my eyes and admire the quality of the silence
I’ll write rhymes in my mind honestly and define them
Solidly redefine and memorise them
Until like a diamond
when I come out
I’ll be better than when I arrived in”

                                                                        Luka Lesson, from ‘Please Resist Me’

Luka Lesson performed live for our whole school today and was an instant hit with students and staff. His selection of poems to perform was excellent. I loved that Luka’s themes ranged from racism and prejudice to freedom and family. He has soul and wit. Our students could feel and hear it.

I loved how Luka changes the tempo – which can be blistering – and keeps the audience with him after a such a wildly controlled torrent of words. One example of this was when he told us about his grandmother. Her wisdom was gently, humorously, relayed in lines that have stayed with me throughout the day. She sounds wonderful!

After Luka’s performance to over a thousand students and staff I was inundated with kids who were inspired and wanted to attend his workshops. Over sixty Year 7 students had the opportunity to work with Luka throughout the day and their poetry will appear at the Red Room Company website in coming days. I noted teachers also writing poetry in Luka’s workshops too.

Our school values and nurtures all kinds of creativity and poetry has a growing credibility with students and our partnership with the Red Room Company has a large part to play in this rising status. As I walked around the school today many students made comments about how excellent the performance was on the assembly that morning. They were right.

It was a great way to start the day!


creative commons licensed ( BY-NC-SA ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore


creative commons licensed ( BY-NC-SA ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore


creative commons licensed ( BY-NC-SA ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore


creative commons licensed ( BY-NC-SA ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore


creative commons licensed ( BY-NC-SA ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore


creative commons licensed ( BY-NC-SA ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore


creative commons licensed ( BY-NC-SA ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore

Here are my previous posts about The Red Room Company

You can follow Luka on Twitter or find him on Facebook here. I highly recommend you check out Luka’s website and the video below of Please Resist Me that was performed live today. As always, thanks to Dr Tamryn Bennett for her support of poetry at our school.

Luka

Featured Image: creative commons licensed (BY-NC-SA) flickr photo by Darcy Moore: http://flickr.com/photos/darcymoore/14255728989

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