1993 9 A Current Affair_Ros Bower Award

peter from st.vincent's westmead, speaking about komninos superwog, .

"poetry talks about things they are all too familiar with, .

'copsmate' .

k: "In other residencies you are usually working with the most interested and articulate boys, here kids have problems with their english, some kids have problems with constructing sentences, some kids are dyslexic, some kids can't spell properly, so you are starting off from a very basic level." brother gerald describing boys who are st.vincents as "all here because their basic structures have broiken down, these kids will not be able to take control over their own lives until their self-esteem is improved, and for some kids this whole exercise in writing poetry under the direction of a skilled writer, it's been a wonderful exercise, they have really achieved things". .

derby -'school sucks' - censorship, poem "wogs, they're driving me mad", .

derby: "you don't judge 'em by the way they look, you judge em by what they do". .

creative swearing exercises .

"we spend most of our lives expressing ourselves in an english that is not taught in the classroom, so why not write in that language, even if it contains a few swear words." .

boys performing their work in public and in front of girls from the local girls school. "before now" peter,.

k: "even if they don't ever write another poem again, the process they have been through allows them to believe they can, and I think all through their lives they have been told they can't".