Poetry is … a Year of Magical Thinking at Story Factory Parramatta
08 Apr 2025
Poetry is … music written by people who can’t sing;
Poetry is … a magpie warbling and a car-backfiring;
Poetry is … two fingers pinch-zooming on the lock screen of the universe.
At Story Factory Parramatta, poetry is … whatever young people make it.
With these thoughts in mind, two of Story Factory’s keenest poets and Storytellers, Philip Wilcox and Oliver Twist have been presenting a live, interactive poetry performance to students at schools across Western Sydney. Their goal: to inspire young poets to join our free Year of Poetry program, an intensive writing program for high-school students who believe in the power of poetry.
With the aim of stripping away students’ misconceptions about poetry, Phil and Oli challenged stereotypes and demonstrated the power of poetry as a tool for change and self-understanding.
Among some of our highlights of their performances was the energy and electricity with which students in the audience joined Phil in his dramatic soundscape poem — drumming their hands, pounding their feet and clapping thunder in unison, making it feel as if the poetry was alive!
Oli then slowed things down, with a dazzling reading of his own poem ‘Heartbeats’, where students listened, hands on hearts, and some even with closed eyes, to a dreamy, daring recital that few could resist relaxing into.
The poetry performance finished off with young people getting involved themselves, taking time to write out their own thoughts in response to the prompt, ‘Everybody knows … ”
Responses included gems like;
‘Everybody knows … that pain is necessary for all of us to grow. Without it, are we really human?’;
‘Everybody knows … the colours in the sky, but do they know why my heart is so black and white? Filled with the dullness of my life, a movie with no words, just flight, into the depths of the ocean is where I belong, all on my lonesome, with nowhere to call home.’ And;
‘Everybody knows … that pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza.’
Each of these poetry performances had their own touch of magic, and we’re looking forward to seeing some budding young authors join our Year of Poetry program!
Looking for great student writing? Check out Story Factory’s student publications!