It's poetry in notion

Is poetry the new rap? Rebecca Blithe writes of a fresh effort to harness the power of words to give young people confidence and life choices.

Jai MacDonald and Grace Taylor stand composed and close together on a grassy knoll outside the Manukau Institute of Technology.

They pause momentarily before breaking out into individual poems. Last month, the pair founded Rising Voices, a poets' collective teaching and developing young performance poets.

"The idea of Rising Voices has been in both of our minds for ages," says Mr MacDonald, who formed a rap group in high school and went to New York where he stumbled upon slam poetry.

"The slam scene in New York City for me was very influential and I loved how it created young minds into extraordinary wordsmiths and performers who all had a message that was clearly put across. I thought one day at Dilworth College, 'Man, people have to hear this. They [stories] are as relevant as those in the States'."

Mr MacDonald is completing degrees in English literature and anthropology; Miss Taylor is a youth worker who has been writing poetry and lyrics since the age of 14.

"It wasn't until in my job as a youth worker we were on a marae on Waiheke one night and trying to get the kids to do a performance. We were saying, 'Show us your talent, don't be shy'," says Miss Taylor, who ended up performing poetry for the group.

The duo has competed in poetry slams and saw a need to nurture young poets.

"We wanted to put something together for emerging poets. A lot of perception around poetry is that it's just really academic. We wanted to put it into a mainstream setting and focus on developing young poets' techniques and support them as well."

Since forming Rising Voices, the pair has had great support from family and fellow poets and obtained funding from Creative NZ to run workshops for young people, generally aged from 17 to 24. Over six weeks, students learn writing and performing skills and are taught by guest poets such as Penny Austen.

Both note the outstanding response. "One student travels from Hamilton every week and he posted on Facebook just how extraordinary the talent is and that he has finally found the hub he has been yearning for. When the guest poets come in some of the students get all starstruck and just immerse themselves in the work," says Mr MacDonald.

Miss Taylor says a lot of the students pick up newfound confidence and an insight into the possibility of pursuing their writing skills in the future.

"We had one kid who's in his last year of high school and he wasn't really sure what he wanted to do.

"Then through coming to us and meeting my partner, who's done a diploma in creative writing, he realised he could do the same. We were like, 'Yeah bro, you can get a degree if you want to'."

The pair has been invited to work in schools, hosted a slam competition at the Town Hall and will hold a free performance at the Jubilee Hall in Parnell on September 3.