see it like a poet – national poetry day 2020
TRANSCRIPT
See it Like a Poet – National Poetry Day 2020
On Thursday, Croydon High celebrated Britain’s 26th National Poetry Day, a day set aside to
enjoy, share and discover poetry. This year’s theme is VISION, defined by Ms Cotton in
morning assembly (live for Year 10, and online for the rest of the school) as ‘the ability to think
about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom’, two qualities sorely needed in a world
beset by challenges. In particular, she shared our vision for a world which both hears and
values diverse voices and perspectives.
Tasia-Jade performed James Carter’s Vision Rap with zest, while a number of other talented
performers showcased the wealth of diverse voices and languages represented in our student
body, by reading poetry in Urdu, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Tamil, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi –
and sign language. Each then commented on what the poem or language means to them. All
were moved by words both beautiful and angry, poignant and joyful, and by the graceful
beauty of sign language.
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Our Amnesty International members played an important role, focusing on Amnesty’s vision:
‘A world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights’. Martin Luther King’s Dream incorporates this vision of equality
and justice. Students, who had composed their own poems, performed and shared these brave
words. Megan (U6) ended with the words of Langston Hughes, an African American poet and
social activist:
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow
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The event culminates in a House Challenge – for pupils to write and record their own ‘Vision’
raps!
Mrs K. Abrams Ms A. Cotton
Learning Resources Manager Head of English
All Around the World – Beyza, Year 7
People all around the world have put up this fight
To turn all these rules from wrong, to right
Joining forces against the evil
Big and Strong, small and feeble
People all around the world have put up this fight
To protect the helpless from the bark and the bite
Be their Voice
Do what’s right
Aleeya (Upper Sixth) performed this poem by Aziz Bano Darab Wafa in Urdu,
focusing on sexual conservatism in South Asian culture:
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I live in my own body with such formality,
As if I’m living in someone else’s home.
Though Winters are Cold – Bushra (Lower Sixth)
Though winters are cold, your heart is colder
History repeats itself, as we get older
Though the past is tragic it still repeats
Though we are all human, we still mistreat.
Though tides rush deep beyond the shore,
Your words rush deeper into my soul.
Though you know nothing of misery and pain
Why is it you hurt those different in any way?
Though you know it is wrong why is it done again and again?
Though people do what they do only for self-gain,
What comes out of hate beside more hate?
Though you speak in equality’s favor,
Why do you still abuse your neighbour?
Though I’ve done nothing, you disrespect me
Though I’m different on the outside I feel what you feel, breathe what you breathe and see
what you see
So why do you see an inferior being when you see me?
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Though there is difference in the colour of our skin
It is not so difficult to look within
Though you read this, you do not shed a tear
Though you may have committed wrongs, you can change now and here
Though life is very short, live with no regrets
Value others regardless of what qualities they possess.
Performed by Gabriella (Year 10) in Polish,; this is a poem beloved by her mother:
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One Day – Abisa, Diya, Ayesha (Year 8)
A day when you don’t want to cover up your skin
and hide your ethnicity
A day when
Women don’t have to fear taking the bus,
Or walking,
Or simply using their voices
A day where
You don’t have to worry about holding your partner’s
hand in public
Or ‘coming out’ at school
A day where
You don’t have to fear the risk on your life
By moving to another country
On the run
Away from home
A day where you don’t handle abuse in silence
Afraid of the world
And the outcome
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Look Beyond - Tasia-Jade (Upper Sixth)
Cracks in concrete caves,
mildew,
Shackled chains,
copper,
thick, blood-stained
orange.
Fist held high,
eyes glazed,
Look beyond the sky
rays of beams of
hope and land and
glory and
Freedom
La casa di Mara – Aldo Palazzeschi, performed in Italian
by Amy-Louis (Upper Sixth)
La casa di Mara è una piccola stanza di legno,
a lato un cipresso l'adombra nel giorno.
Davanti vi corrono i treni.
Seduta nell'ombra dell'alto cipresso sta Mara filando.
La vecchia ha cent'anni.
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E vive filando in quell'ombra.
I treni le corron veloci davanti
portando la gente lontano.
Ell'alza la testa un istante
e presto il lavoro riprende.
I treni mugghiando
s'incrocian dinanzi alla casa di Mara volando.
Ell'alza la testa un istante
e presto il lavoro riprende.
Mara’s home is a little wooden house
At its side, a cypress gives it shade during the day
At the front, the trains run by
Sat in front of the house in the shade of the tall cypress tree, is Mara sewing
The old woman is 100 years old
And she spends her time sewing in the shade
The trains run fast in front of her house taking people to faraway places
She raises her head for an instant
And soon her work resumes
The trains roar in front of her house
She raises her head for an instant
And soon her work resumes.
Amy-Louise writes: ‘My grandmother used to recite this poem to me every evening during our
long summer stays in Italy when I was a young child. She used to tell me that as she got older,
nothing ever phased her- much like the roaring trains which never phased Mara.
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Still I Rise (excerpt) by Maya Angelou, performed in Sign Language
by Alisha (Lower Sixth)
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise…
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise
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