A performance poet, Asher Hoyles visited Burghley, to perform in assembly and run a workshop celebrating Black History Month. It was fantastic; she showed a side of poetry new to many of the students, mixing cultural tributes with upbeat intelligent hooks. She then took a select group of students and ran an hour and a half long workshop, which was amazing.

She explained the roots of the spoken word, right back to native tribes of Western Africa. As a poet myself, it was educational to actually know where it came from and that it was used as a form of communication. She explained the use of music and rhythms, using a handmade drum as an example and went on to have everyone inventing their own proverbs.

The students then went on to use some of their proverbs and other stimuli to create their own poems. The results were great, varying from family tributes to deep metaphors.

Overall, it was just brilliant. I came away personally feeling enriched and what was nice, was the positive emphasis Asher put on the ‘youth’ of today, and how the media portrays young people is wrong. I hope that the group will get the opportunity to showcase their work and do Asher’s workshop justice because it was superb and so was their work.

Malik Marland