Along with the collection of poems, All of us, by Carina Gallegos and me, I’m part of a group compiling a collection of poems written by migrants and refugees. So we’re asking for poems from people all over New Zealand. But at the same time we want to create some new work. So I’ve been running some poetry writing workshops with ESOL students in three high schools in the Porirua area – Aotea College, Mana College and Bishop Viard College. There’s some real magic happening here. Some of these students have only been in New Zealand for six months, but they write lines like:
Me and my friends liked to throw a stone into the well
and listen to the voice that came from the water.
I wish I could fly.
I wish I was at my future already.
I wish I could throw back
So I could redo all of my mistakes.
We’re just at the beginning – who knows what these students will come up with!