Poetry is...
By Scotty Wings
Published 20 October 2023
Well we’ve talked a lot about that haven’t we students?
Trying to nail down a cloud.
Poetry is...
An excuse to forget about mortality.
Whiteboard scrawled totems.
We gifts to gods.
Great contribution, what else?
Poetry is...
Static shock.
Boom box.
Car accident.
Yes more!
Captured light on our pages, and the shadow that follows.
Sunset.
Hashtag.
Unhinged.
Cutlery.
9 + 10 = 21 and nobody is stupid.
I would love it if it read like “Poetry is 9+10 = 21. And also... nobody is stupid”.
So there’s like two separate things that poetry is.
That’s how it reads in my head, anyway. So cool. Well done.
Sweat.
Rust.
Wind.
Justin Bieber.
Nope.
Justin Bieber eating his own face.
Yep.
Rainbows between lines.
Yes.
Poetry is...
Not what I’m here to teach.
Why teach the ocean to break on shores?
Tell the adults they’ll survive not knowing for a while.
You don’t need to know
What
poetry is...
You’ve got it already.
Scotty Wings wrote 'Poetry is...' as part of a series of workshops for Year 11 students at North Lakes State College, who he engaged in activities inspired by the Toilet Doors learning resource. Scotty guided the students through intensive poetry writing exercises and invited them to experiment with guerrilla publishing methods.