What is a poem? Why do some poems rhyme and some don't?  How do you start writing a poem?  These are just some of the questions answered in the Papercuts Poetry Education Program - by a real, live poet! 

The Papercuts program works to refresh and enliven the way teachers, students and the education community in Australia experience poetry. Developed and coordinated by The Red Room Company, Papercuts puts into practice the organisation's expertise and understanding of how poetry functions in our media-driven society, encouraging students and teachers to engage in poetry in ways that are challenging, interesting, and relevant.

Offering schools a poet-in-residence experience and a flexible unit of poetic, reflective and analytic activities, Papercuts is the only national poetry program available in Australian schools focussing on Australian poetry and poetry's role in our community.

Results

Outcomes from the program have been impressive, including the poetry itself which has been published in forms as diverse as radio shows,  a Wiki page, a blog and a performance piece by students.  Schools are committing additional resources to further extend the benefits of the program.

Feedback from schools and teachers has been universally positive, with behaviour, literacy and engagement all reported to improve - a list of achievements that has prompted The Red Room to formally evaluate the impact the program is having.

The Red Room Company is planning to expand the program to other states and introduce a new teacher's kit suited to students in Years 7 and 8 and in future years develop an online resource that will introduce the material to a much broader audience.

The Future for Papercuts

As the program is offered as an essentially free service to schools, funding is an ongoing challenge and as it grows in scope and popularity this need grows in tandem.

If you would like to know more about the program or may be interested in supporting its future growth and fundraising, please contact education@redroomcompany.org.

“It made me appreciate what a powerful tool poetry was for leading students into an almost spiritual experience. There was so much opening up, respect and sharing from the most unlikely group of poets!”
Sarah Johnston, Mt Carmel High School, Yass (2007)

In 2006, The Ian Potter Foundation granted $10,000 to the initial pilot program, followed in 2008 by a further $100,000 over two years, towards the roll out of the Papercuts programs to schools in Victoria, NSW, WA and Norfolk Island.

www.redroomcompany.org

until the moment the paper runs out.

Shiny walls with misspelt messages.

Our lives too short, the town too small.

Graffiti is an attack in the senses -

shiny walls with misspelt messages,

urban spaces that hesitate between conformity and utopia.

Graffiti is an attack on the senses

showing me how to make an illusion -

urban spaces that hesitate between conformity and utopia.

Sometimes we caught our lives too short.

Showing me how to make the illusion - 

these walls are disgusting but I loved them.

Sometime we caught our lives too short

finding the hidden life in the surfaces.

These walls are disgusting, but I loved them.

Streams of colour flood my hallway,

finding the hidden life in the surfaces

so quiet you could hear tomorrow calling.

Streams of colour flood my hallway - 

the plague of the mainstream,

so quiet you could hear tomorrow calling.

Silent wars between utopia and oblivion - 

the plague of the mainstream,

a sequence of events I never knew anything about -

silent wars between utopia and oblivion.

I learnt about respect with a twist.

A sequence of events I never knew anything about:

I was only a child but with a twist,

with a twist, I learnt about respect.