Author Archives: australianchildrenspoetry

Drum Practice by Jenny Erlanger

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Drum Practice

 

The walls are pulsating,

the floor is vibrating,

I feel so awake and on fire.

Every thump, every boom

coming out of my room

has that wonderful power to inspire.

I love all the smashing,

the pounding, the crashing,

the air in my bedroom is ringing.

All the houses around

are alive with my sound,

every dog in the neighborhood’s singing.

From my window I see

people waving at me,

their heads are all nodding and shaking.

Every fist that they raise

is in obvious praise

of the marvelous music I’m making.

Now they’ve formed into groups,

into synchronized troops.

They must really love what I’m playing.

They’re stomping their feet

right in time with the beat.

I just wish I could hear what they’re saying.

Jenny Erlanger

 

First published in Countdown Magazine 2008

 

Dogs by Kristin Martin

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Dogs

 Some dogs are scary.
You have to be wary.

Some dogs are fat.
They could squash you flat.

Some dogs are tiny
and yappy and whiny.

Some dogs are old
and can’t do what they’re told.

Some dogs are jumpy.
They make me feel grumpy.

Some dogs are fast.
I just watch them run past.

Some dogs are busy
and rush round till they’re dizzy.

But my dog is great.
She’s my very best mate.

ABOUT KRISTIN:

Kristin lives in Adelaide in a house sort-of-near the sea with her husband, two sons, three turtles, four goldfish, five spiny leaf insects and a canary named Stephen Fly. Her poems have appeared in Tadpoles in the Torrens (Wakefield Press, 2013), and in the magazines Blast Off and Orbit. Kristin’s adult poetry collection, Paint the Sky, will be published by Ginninderra Press later this year.

Today Kristin tells us about her love of poetry and shares a little about her writing process…

I love writing poems; that’s what makes me a poet. I wouldn’t write poems if I didn’t love doing it. If you love writing poems then you are a poet too.

Many of my poems come from things I see or hear that make me laugh, or make me stop and say, “Wow! Isn’t that amazing! I want to tell people about that!” But, just because I think something is funny or amazing, it doesn’t mean other people will too. So I have to show how amazing or funny it is. One way to do this is to make up a story, with interesting characters and a setting and a beginning, middle and an end. I insert the amazing thing I saw into the story, and I write the story as a poem.

I also like to play with rhymes. On the same trip to northern Australia I was sitting on the edge of a beautiful, warm spring, dangling my feet in the water and watching my children swim, when a woman walked up with a black, stocky dog. I wanted to jump up and ran away because the dog looked so scary. But I made myself stay, because the water was lovely and warm, and told myself to be wary of the dog, but not scared. Immediately I realised I had a rhyme: “Some dogs are scary, you have to be wary.” I loved that rhyme! Over the next few weeks I thought of other rhymes for dogs; tiny dogs and jumpy dogs and busy dogs. I wrote them all in my notebook, then chose my favourite rhymes and arranged them in the order that sounded best. But the poem wasn’t finished until I came up with the ending. A good ending is one of the most important things in a poem.

 

 

I’d Rather Be a Birtle Than a Turd

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I’d rather be a Birtle than a Turd!

 

With four furry feathered flippers and a sharp and pointy beak

I’m a mixture of a turtle and a bird

I’ve a shell so sleek and shiny and some talons on my feet

But I’d rather be a Birtle than a Turd!

 

With some prickly tickly whiskers and a web to call my own

I’m a mixture of a spider and a shrew

I’ve a soft and furry tummy and eight legs without a bone

But I’d rather be a Shrider than a Spew!

 

With the body of a rodent and a long and slimy tail

I’m a mixture of a Gerbil and a worm

I’ve a squirmy wormy belly and my ears are very pale

But I’d rather be a Worbil than a Germ!

 

With a really bendy body and a home beside the shore

I’m a mixture of a starfish and a mink

I’ve a coat so soft and glossy and five legs that I adore

But I’d rather be a Marfish than a Stink!

 

With two long and fine antenna and a wavy wagging tail

I’m a mixture of a Beetle and a Mutt

I’ve a mouth of sloppy slobber and six legs that never fail

But I’d rather be a Meetle than a Butt!

 

With a round and spikey body and a long and bristly beard

I’m a mixture of a blowfish and a goat

I have skin like slimy rubber and a temper to be feared

But I’d rather be a glowfish than a bloat!

 

With two sharp and pointy pincers and some gorgeous golden down

I’m a mixture of a Yabbie and a duck

I have eyeballs on my feelers and fine feathers on my crown

But I’d rather be a Dabbie than a Yuck!

 

With a scaly silver tailfin and a noisy croaking song

I’m a mixture of a snapper and a frog

I’ve a sharp and toothy grimace and my legs are long and strong

But I’d rather be a Frapper than a Snog!

 

With some snipping snapping fingers and a soft and furry coat

I’m a mixture of a lobster and a mouse

I’ve a love of cheesy cheddar and I live beneath a boat

But I’d rather be a Mobster than a Louse!

 

With a tail so curly wurly and with furry golden fluff

I’m a mixture of a seahorse and a chick

I’m a cheeky chirpy cheeper who is into horsey stuff

But I’d rather be a Cheahorse than a Sick!

 

When it comes to any creature that is made up on the spot

One you’ve never ever seen or smelt or heard

There are many names to call them that are pretty or are not

Still I’d rather be a Birtle than a Turd!

David Rudkin

Buccaneer Banquet by Kate O’Neil

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Buccaneer Banquet

 

The buccaneer bragged to the butcher,

“My Kitchen Rules, for sure,

so gimme those guts for me banquet tonight

and a coupla bears and that boar.

 

I’m goin’ all out on the barbie,

with bacon and bangers to boot,

served up with a broccoli garnish,

and for afters, a basin of fruit.

 

A good balanced bash for me hearties,

from Yours Truly, the Buccaneer Host,

and if they wake up in the morning,

they can get their own coffee and toast.

Kate O’Neil

Squirrel Sightings by Monty Edwards

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 Squirrel Sightings

 

Have you ever seen a squirrel? You may think them rather cute,

But they’re certainly not stupid, for they’re really quite astute.

They take notice of the weather when the winter’s on its way

And store all the food that’s needed for each coming frosty day.

For that is when they snuggle in the hollow of a tree,

Or they hide among the bushes where they’re difficult to see.

 

Every squirrel’s quite a builder when it wants to make a nest

So that as things get much colder there’s a place for warmth and rest.

If you should see a squirrel when you’re at the park to play,

Don’t be too disappointed if the squirrel darts away.

Watch him hurry, scamper, scurry, for you’ll seldom see him walk.

Perhaps he’s just too busy to take time to stop and talk.

 

Monty Edwards

Monty says: I enjoy writing poetry for the opportunity it gives to inspire, challenge or entertain people I may never meet personally. I also enjoy attempting to conquer such constraints as form, meter and rhyme by my choice and arrangement of words in order to produce my own unique response to a theme or prompt. For me it is like tackling a complex puzzle for which there may be many possible solutions, but few that are completely satisfying as an offering to potential readers.

 

Beach Treasure by Kristin Martin

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Beach Treasure

We went for a walk,
just Nan, Pop and me,
and found lots of treasure
washed up by the sea.

Nan found a rock crab
alone on the sand.
It tickled and wriggled
around in my hand.

I found a treasure
beneath the sea grass;
a smooth-as-silk
wave-polished piece of green glass.

But Pop said his treasure
was the best you would see:
he crawled under the jetty
and there he found me!

Kristin Martin

Bubbles by Vanessa Proctor

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Bubbles

 

We blow them in streams

across the yard,

some small and marble-sized,

others as big as baseballs.

Every bubble iridescent,

a perfect world of its own,

mirroring grass, sky,

occasionally our faces.

Bubbles glinting with sunlight

swirl skyward or

float to the ground.

Each one

a little miracle

before it pops.

Vanessa Proctor
  • Published in The School Magazine, Orbit, August 2015

 

Wattle Blooming by Sophie Masson

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Wattle Blooming

Sudden bursts of gold,

Sweeping colour bold,

By rivers, by roads, in country and town,

In farms and gardens, the wattle’s the crown.

 

Of the end of the winter, beginning of spring,

The blooming of wattle will sing and sing

Of birds in their nests and the warm days to hand,

For the wattle is blooming across the land.

Sophie Masson

Balancing Broccoli in a Basin by Alix Phelan

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Balancing broccoli in a basin 

Bought by a beneficent buccaneer

bunches of broccoli

bound through the air

into a basin of boiling water.

 

They balanced the content of Vitamin B

in the body of the buccaneer’s

burgeoning daughter.

Alix Phelan ©, 2016

Alix Said:  I thought this was a bit of a challenge. At first look, the four “b” words had nothing in common.  I decided to look up what vitamins are associated with broccoli and discovered that Vitamin B was one. Very convenient. Apart from being convenient with regard to the poem, as far as I understand, Vitamin B helps nerve cells and DNA to grow, and so, it was quite appropriate to use with “burgeoning daughter”.