On Wednesday 26th August, the Year 10, 11, and 12 English classes were lucky enough to spend some time with New Zealand’s very own Poet Laureate, David Eggleton.

A Poet Laureate is a writer chosen to represent all of the poets in the country, promoting poetry and producing work during their paid two-year tenure. It does pay to be a poet!

Mr Eggleton is a prolific writer. He has written many books and performs live all over the country. Being Poet Laureate means he “speaks for the people”, often writing poetry about momentous events, such as Lockdown, and the horrors of the Christchurch massacre.

As well as performing some of his poetry for the students, Mr Eggleton also gave a writing workshop. He said the key to a successful poem is “getting the best words in the best possible order, by narrowing them down to end up with exactly the right words for exactly the right idea.” He said that “poetry magnetises words… they attract each other”... and then we all had a go at making words into magnets.

Some examples of the poems our students created are:

‘Tiger’, by Emmy

In the early morning sunrise

Creatures begin to open their eyes

Searching, lurking, the tiger stalks its prey

Walking around, a giant beast

Hunting for its next big feast.

‘Deer’, by Gabby

As the antlers hang from the chain

They shine with glory as they rein

The head dangles above, looking

Around like a flying dove.

‘Up In The Hills’ by Amy

Up in the hills

On a sunny day in Otago

The river’s running

Lambs calling for their mums

Dogs barking and

The farmers are having a cold beer.

‘Sunset’ by Noelle

As the sunset rises

The oceans collide

The birds tweet

And the wind’s strong

A girl stands in the wild

With all her problems shifting away...