Success
By Luka Lesson
Published 1 January 2021
Students on the paradigm
shifting with the circus
conversion rates adjusted
muster the courage for the purpose
Step up to the moment
take up the stage
speak your truth
lay the rage
let the fire from your breath
push the facts and figures
to the crew
other kids will listen to you
society has a bright future
only if you can be the proof
Bad kids got the most talent
bored and rather talk in the back
success can easily
slip between the cracks
I almost did
but two friends disappeared
we thought we had it made
until we made our graves
and laid the fear
thought we'd make it anyway
cocky as hell
jokes made the days pass
until the laughter
decided to melt.
snow on the mountain
peeks that we chase
you can be the best
just don't engage in the race
go at your own speed
let them know you are a king
tell them you're a Queen
no one can take your dreams
Hear your future in the breeze
feel love in the trees
high fives with tomorrow
catch and kiss with memories
Thanks to a generous donation from a local Illawarra resident, The Red Room Company ran a special series of poetry workshops at Dapto High School throughout 2014.
The first workshop featured Australian spoken word poet Zohab Zee Khan, who visited the students of Dapto High School on 17th February, 2014, to work through selected poetry activities from the Toilet Doors learning resource. Students watched Zohab perform his poetry and learnt about his own writing processes before composing their own poems. They then explored various guerrilla poetry publishing techniques, such as creating matchbox poems and scribing their works on the school's windows, transforming their hallways into aisles of poetic inspiration. You can read their poems here.
The second workshop was facilitated by celebrated performance poet, Luka Lesson, on 17th June, 2014. Luka performed for over 1000 students as part of the weekly assembly, before running instive writing and performance sessions with Year 7. Students created and performed their own poems inspired by the Red Room's Poetry + Music resource. You can discover the students' poems here and click here to check out Luka's poem, "Success".
The third workshop was held in September with local spoken word poet, Lorin Elizabeth.