Things That Happen In Video Games

schoolforyoungwrit
May 29
2 min read

Archer reads his poem on Write On Speak Out Fresh Voices 2025 Tamariki

We are featuring a few of the 51 fresh voices featured on our recent edition of Write On Speak Out. You can read more about the project here. Write On Speak Out

Here is Archer's fabulous list poem.

Things That Happen In Video Games

You start,

You die.

You survive,

You die, die, die.

You build houses,

You shoot people,

You tame animals,

You crash stunt cars,

You hunt deer,

You play on servers,

You level up,

……

You die.

You defeat the bad guys,

You get excited,

You die.

Try again.

You can listen to Archer reading his poem here: Archer

What we noticed:

Archer drew on his own experiences but also gave us a universal experience- this is definitely what happens in video games, right?

Once he had his ideas listed, Archer ordered and grouped the ideas, deliberately choosing to repeat the word "die" and then the line "You die" for the effect.

The poet built up the second stanza with a rapid list, and then changed the rhythm of the piece by adding an ellipsis as a dramatic pause before adding in another "you die".

The last stanza and the ending are both deliberate and effective.

We were thrilled that Archer chose this piece to publish because it represents him so well. Archer is in Year 5 and has another piece appearing in Write On Magazine Issue 64. Congratulations, Archer!