Poetry slam champion, hip-hop artist Luka Lesson inspiring young people

Your honest clear powerful voice is what you leave behind, Australian poetry slam champion Luka Lesson has told students at Champagnat Catholic College Pagewood.

Luka Lesson, a slam poet and a self described "conscious hip-hop artist" at Champagnat Catholic College. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

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Slam poet and self-described conscious hip-hop artist Luka Lesson joined Champagnat Catholic College Pagewood this week as its first writer in residence.

Lesson’s love for words and popular storytelling came through his connection with artists including Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. in the early 1990s, and it started to take form when he discovered slam poetry.

Over the course of his career as a full time poet, Lesson has used education programs as a form social change from poetry workshops in the city schools of Bronx (NYC) to hip-hop workshops at Milpera High School in Brisbane.

Luka Lesson at Champagnat Catholic College. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

Lesson has delivered confronting messages about legacy to Champagnat Catholic College students.

“Your honest, clear, powerful voice is what you leave behind,” the Australian poetry slam champion said.

Lesson spent the week mentoring, performing for and fostering the writing of the students from years 7 to 12.

His work, including the HSC text May Your Pen Grace the Page and the political-social message of Please Resist Me, has been studied by the students this term.

“I would like to help young people like you to articulate what you think,” Lesson told students.

“I think one of the biggest problems for young people today is that they don’t know how to articulate what they feel. That they feel trapped.”

Lesson is encouraging students to take risks in their writing and understand that even the experts need to keep working on their craft in order to produce something they are happy with.

Champagnat Year 11 student Tom Catalan Wilson called the workshops “thought provoking and inspirational”.

“The experience allowed me to actually explore poetic form, rather than just read about it,” he said.