The word on the street is heading South, Liz Breslin reports.
One group who have the knack is the South Auckland Poets Collective (SAPC). They're prolific bloggers with an active YouTube channel, happily combining social media and the spoken word.
They've performed nationally and internationally, and are on their way south to perform at Wanaka's Outspoken Festival. Liz Breslin caught up with Dietrich Soakai of the SAPC, who is on his way to yet another youth workshop.
Who are the South Auckland Poets Collective?
We're a group of people from all over Auckland passionate about poetry. We do two main things: performance poetry and workshops, empowering young people in workshops.
So if you're not from South Auckland, do you have to audition to get in?
You have to audition regardless!
How did you become a collective?
It came out of a youth development programme run by Grace Taylor, Ramon Narayan and Daren Kamali and the name just stuck. And it carried on because people kept asking ''When's our next meeting, when's our next gig?'' It sort of organically evolved into what it is. That was in 2008.
Did you grow up loving words?
Yeah, some of us did, some of us grew into it. For me, it's been a means of getting out what's on the inside. More in the form of hip-hop music was how I used to consume poetry. If you'd ever told me it was poetry then I'd have been like ''shut up, I don't like poetry''. We've all got a different relationship with how we engage with it.
Can you tell us some of your influences? Any other genres?
Well, before hip-hop, I was into punk. All sorts, really, ballads and stuff.
Like those epic rock ballads?
Yeah, and like Queen, or dare I say it, even ABBA, but not so proud of that one.
OK, I won't tell anyone. So what do you guys do to help youngsters find their voices?
I guess we just create a space that young people feel safe enough to journey and discover their voice, what it feels like, or sounds like. And in that space as well, there's a space for other young people to hear out those people, if that makes sense. It's kind of like that old hip-hop thing of ''real recognises real'', when you actually hear them and actually see them. It's a real, powerful thing. And we're so busy in our world doing stuff and those can be really powerful moments, those times, where young people can just be.
Can I quote from your blog about your youth highlights of 2013?
Sure. ''... the people we've enjoyed sharing the stage with the most this year have been a random collection of young people we've met through running high school workshops. In October, the collective held a show called Be that was created for the sole purpose of giving young people the opportunity to share their poetry at one of our gigs. Watching a green room full of teenage nerves, slightly awkward interactions and one of our teenage guests dressed in a ''onesie'' reminded us all of the excitement we once had a few years ago. Sharing the stage with these budding young poets was easily the most rewarding thing we did this year.''
What are some of the themes young people talk about today?
One subject they come up with across the country manifests itself in different ways: What does it mean to be a young person in Aotearoa? In Aotearoa specifically. Sometimes they come up with the question and the answer.
Last question from me. Does New Zealand have talent?
Hell, yes!
Catch them
You can catch South Auckland Poets Collective members Dietrich Soakai, Olive Asi, Luti Richards, Marina Alefosio and Ryan Teura at the Outspoken Festival, performing at Wanaka Masonic Lodge on Tuesday at 6pm. Details at www.outspokenfestival.co.nz
For more information about the SAPC, visit www.sapcnz.com or watch them on YouTube.
- Liz Breslin.
