We All Love Llamas is a great free poetry event to take your kids to while in Edinburgh. The poet, Joshua Seigal, is able to hop about and bring the magic of poetry to children.
Seigal draws from his own childhood experiences as the subject matter for his poems such as pets, being afraid, or getting lost. He explains and utilises nonsense words in his poems and even has some pictures to go along with them.
Before reciting his words, Seigal occasionally explained technical concepts such as speaking in first person and the difference between writing about something that is true, something that is fictional, and something that’s a little bit of both. Seigal was able to explain these ideas in an easy to understand way that made his poetry an educational experience as well.
He used the same gesture over and over again, which shows he isn’t as experienced in the ways of physical movement as he is with words. When he got to verbal tricks, like speaking very quickly, or when he rapped his poems for the audience, he was more entertaining. All in all, it’s good, but could use a little more oomph.