As the orange sun set over an azure skyline dotted with royal palm ferns and whitewashed buildings, the students of Lakshmi School geared up for an open-air poetry evening at their campus, last Saturday. There were last minute discussions, calls for missing team mates, costume fixes and props to be taken care of amidst the excited chatter. The stage with its backdrop of silver paper stars and floating blobs of dreamy cloud lanterns created the perfect ambience. The evening opened with aperformance by Sixth graders who recited the playful poem ‘Beavers in the bathroom’ by Kenn Nesbitt.
The recitations and performances were mainly in English with a sprinkling of Tamil and Hindi Poems too. The school Principal Shanthi Mohan said over 200students registered for the event this year and the preparations lasted for over a fortnight. “We gave free reigns to the children, allowing them to choose the poems and come up with creative ideas to present the recital.”, she said.
Reciting poetry is an art and there are various aspects like voice modulation, gestures and pronunciation to be considered. The students not only excelled in all of them but also redefined it by using various creative tools and techniques like rapping, classical choreography, miming, vivid placards, reverse poems that give a different meaning when read back to front and the usage of drums and guitar to set a musical ambience.
Adventures of Isabel by American poet Ogden Nash, Night of the Scorpion by the Indian poet Nissim Ezekiel, Sorting Hat by the British Novelist J.K.Rowling, Remember the Old Road by Ruskin bond, The Rock and the Bubble by American poet Louisa May Alcott, Bharathiyar’s Tamil poems and Vazhaiyadi Vazhai by Tamil poet Mu.Metha were among the 60 poems presented beautifully by the middle and high school students.
They used poetry as a tool to explore social issues like poverty and raised environmental concerns on pollution. With a clarity well beyond their age, they recited poems about mental health related issues like Alzheimer’s disease and the 21st century specific issues like bullying and depression. On a lighter note, poems like ‘Homework! Oh, Homework!’ by Jack Prelutsky gave us a peek into the world of the children and their imagination.
A few students also presented their original work that included a 21st century adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘As you like it’, narrated with a puppet show. Mukilan, a student from class six, in his poem ‘The Astronaut’ shared why he wanted to become one. While Srinidhi, a class eight student, sang a song on overcoming bullies, an original composition accompanied by the melodious notes of her Guitar.
Meenakshi, Raji and Ananya, students of class eleven recited the poem ‘Still I rise’, by African-American poet Maya Angelou. Meenakshi says, “We wanted to present something related to women empowerment and Angelou’s work has always inspired us. So when the theme ‘21st century’ was announced, we couldn’t think of a poem better suited for the occasion.”
The teachers set a good example for the students by participating along with them and recited original poems on topics like addiction to gadgets and patriotism using innovative presentation techniques like villu pattu. The evening came to an end with students singing a song in praise of their School that was written and composed by their teachers.