Category Archives: Australian children’s poetry

“Christmas Eve” by Monty Edwards

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Christmas Eve

‘Twas the night before Christmas,

But I could not sleep.

I hit on a plan

And began counting sheep.

 

I got to one hundred,

But still was awake,

Which soon had me wond’ring

How long it would take.

 

I had to keep going –

What else could I do?

So soon I was up to

Two hundred and two.

 

When passing three hundred

I started to fret,

Then, reaching four hundred

I got quite upset.

 

As five hundred came

I  was ready to weep,

And can you believe it?

I cried myself to sleep!

Christmas Eve by Monty Edwards

“Dad’s BBQ” by Ron Marsh

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My father had a bullock

I don’t know where he found it

The council man came by one day

And said he must impound it

 

Now Dad said that it can’t be done

Because he’d asked a few

Of his friends and relatives  

To a barbecue

 

The bull heard this,and with a roar

He headed for the hills

He had no plans for barbecues

And salad for the frills

 

So dad and all the family

And some of his good friends

Had barbecue of vegetables

And other odds and ends

 

DAD’S BARBECUE by Ron Marsh

“A Clean Green Christmas” by Celia Berrell

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“Twas the night before Christmas.

No cards have been sent.

No presents are wrapped,

there’s no tree to augment.

No air tickets purchased

to family events.

If we choose to “go green”

well that’s what is meant.

 

Instead, give to charity,

make our own jam

to give to the family

rather than ham.

Avoid plastic tinsel.

As home decorator

only use hand-made

from wool, wood or paper.

 

The night before Christmas

we chose to go green

and help to keep Earth’s

environment clean.

 

inspired by the New Scientist’s article on how to HAVE A GREEN CHRISTMAS

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24032061-100-green-christmas-how-to-have-an-ethical-and-guilt-free-festive-season

“1942” by Katherine Gallagher

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1942

They’d hoped he’d be back for Christmas –

the lights shining down on him, the tree

somehow shielding off the horror. A break.

The family hadn’t seen him as a soldier,

in his uniform, among harvested paddocks,

the dried stubble that pricked your legs.

 

Arriving home, he said Merry Christmas,

hugged people and slapped them on the back.

Wandered about the place, eyes crinkled

with strain, lines dug

into his forehead. So young, he seemed

to be either laughing or very sad

as though, in between,

there was nothing.

(From Tigers on the Silk Road, Arc Publications, 2000)

“Not in Good Shape for Christmas” by James Aitchison

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I

am

sliding

down the

Christmas

tree sliding

far t o o fast

I

am

sliding

down the

Christmas

tree watch me

s a i l i n g past

I

am

sliding

down the

Christmas

tree through the

lights I’ll z o o m

I

am

sliding

down the

Christmas

tree TINKLE

SMASH AND BOOM

oh

no

what a

mess

 

   James Aitchison

”My Mother’s Horse Shoe Ring” by Katherine Gallagher

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My Mother’s Horse-shoe Ring

  (after Grace Nichols)

Sometimes when I see it

on my index finger 

I am reassured,

 

rub its ruby stone, her gift.

I need this small reminder

of her, its lucky charm

 

that catches me

like an itinerant fire

chipped from the sun.

 

© Katherine Gallagher

Published in Acres of Light Arc Publications, 2016