Mud by Bridh Hancock

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Mud

 

The sea gulls are in from the beaches,

Wheeling above the roof tops —

(Kiirr, kiirr, skreeik!

Such lovely voices they have) — or

On the grass in the park,

Like a flock of well-behaved cockies;

A brightly white grazing bird mass.

 

The gulls are in from the beaches.

Soon we’ll have some proper inclement weather;

Skies of storm-cloud, wind and rain howling, and

Perhaps if we are good,

LIGHTNING!

Enjoyable, memorable, coming with thunder,

Blustering unchallenged to skies east in elsewhere.

 

Soon it will be back to ordinary,

Water retreating to safety ‘neath lush green grass,

Or spread all wet and puddly on asphalt.

(What a way to go!)

Weather must be really bad to be really good.

I hate cold wet miserable gray glum old days to gloom, and

I hate mud, but

Squiddily, iddily, uddily, squd

Sometimes there are no times like those spent in mud,

But you need a steam-cleaning to be human again,

And a steam-cleaning’s fun;

So bring on the rain!

Bridh Hancock

Mal Kennington Malone by Katherine Gallagher

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Mal Kennington Malone

 

Mal Kennington Malone

wasn’t good at games.

His classmates always laughed

and called him names:

 

dumb-chum, drophead,

you silly billy shark –

biggest flapfingers

in Bladestone Park.

 

I think I’ll try running –

I know I’m not bad.

I could really show ’em,

he told his Dad.

 

He trained and trained

around an old dirt track;

he trained every day,

ran to school and back.

 

He trained and trained

and ran like a hare,

even trained when it rained,

racing everywhere.

 

When sportsday came,

he was first off the mark,

became the fastest winner

in Bladestone Park.

 

© Katherine Gallagher

School Rules by Kate O’Neil

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School Rules

 

Books and pens and scratching chalk

Gotta think but you’d better not talk

Stop that running. Can’t you walk?

You must obey the rules.

 

Rewrite this page – and keep it neat.

Please don’t fidget with your feet.

Please sit properly on your seat.

Don’t you know the rules?

 

Perhaps you did not hear me mention

that you have to pay attention?

If you don’t you’ll score detention

writing out the rules.

 

Writing rules? I’d like that gig.

Creative writing’s what I dig.

Woo hoo! Stand back for something big

when I write the rules.

Kate O’Neil

Australia Day Fireworks by Monty Edwards

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Australia Day Fireworks

 

Explosions of colour burst out of blackness

In spattered circles of red and green

On the dark canvas of the heavens

 

Rockets streak skyward

Sending showers of silver stars

Above upturned faces

 

Children gaze open-mouthed

In awe and amazement

At the pyro technicians’ art.

 

Monty Edwards

Monty says: The explosions of bungers, jumping jacks and the humble Tom Thumb on “cracker night” in my childhood came immediately to mind with the prompt. Today’s fireworks are even more spectacular.

 

 

Advance Australia (un)Fair by Jenny Erlanger

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Advance Australia (un)Fair

 

I think it’s time our anthem changed,

there’s something very wrong.

That third verse must be rearranged.

to validate the song.

 

“For those who’ve come across the seas”,

we can’t fulfill their prayer.

I’m really sorry, refugees.

We have no “plains to share”.

Jenny Erlanger

 

Meet the Hoppers by Sandra Hopf

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MEET THE HOPPERS

We live up on the hillside,
And our burrows dot the grass,
Where we play and romp and sleep,
And just watch the clouds float past.

Although it gets chaotic,
We can still have heaps of fun,
‘cause my family’s really large,
And I love them, everyone.

There’s …

Auntie Flo whose strawberry RED,
And Uncle Bob who’s ocean BLUE,
They’ve two little PURPLE bunnies,
My cousins one and two.

Auntie June is butter YELLOW,
Fire engine RED is Uncle Clive,
Their three little ones are ORANGE,
Cousins three, four and five.

Old Uncle Jock is deep sky BLUE,
Lemon YELLOW is Aunt Devine,
Lime GREEN are my other cousins,
Six, seven, eight and nine.

Dear Uncle George is WHITE as snow,
And BLACK as night is Auntie May,
Cousins ten to fourteen turned out,
Five different shades of GREY.

Then cousin-Joy is tree-frog GREEN,
Her partner Pete is ruby RED,
They have six BROWN bouncing bunnies,
All tucked up tight in bed.

My Mum and Dad are both pure WHITE,
And I could never really see,
How I turned out like I did,
With COLOURED spots all over me.

I guess I have a bit of all,
My large family mixed in me,
But I’m happy, it’s who I am,
How I turned out to be.

love SPRINKLES

Sandra Hopf

Sandra said: I love writing in a quirky, fun style, but with still a lesson hidden in there. Most of my work tends to be rhyme as I simply can’t help myself!

 

Flame Trees by Kate O’Neil

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Flame Trees

 

Come November

the flame trees

begin to wear their fire.

Over there a winking ember

peeps cautiously

from a green crown,

hinting at Christmas

and stirring nervous thoughts

of fire in green places,

 

while nearby, an extrovert,

naked through winter,

makes a spectacle of herself

in the full flare

of a brand new red dress.

 

How do I look?

she asks seductively,

 

and even the old Jacarandas

in their cool quenching blue

offer nothing but

compliments.

©  Kate O’Neil

Moonwatch by Katherine Gallagher

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Moonwatch

We’re studying the moon –

drawing it, remembering all the moons

we’ve ever seen.

 

Just now, through the window,

there’s a daylight-moon looking fragile,

egg-shell soft, pale white.

 

I’ve no plans to go up there

whizzing through the  blue,

landing on the pearly moon.

 

But I can’t stop thinking

about a blood-orange full moon

I saw inching up

 

into the summery sky.

It moved so slowly,

became a golden balloon

 

that never hurried.

I wanted to follow it,

catch it. But I never did.

 

© Katherine Gallagher

 

Published in Read Me, (Macmillan, 2009, ed. Gaby Morgan)

Summer by Karen Hendriks

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Summer

 

Is as hot as buttery toast.

Cooling dips to wash the sticky ickiness away,

Reclining in movies to munch on choc tops,

Chit chatting to friends to stay connected,

Soaking up joyous Summer freedom.

 

Summer fairs to laugh and whizz and bang on rides,

It’s okay to just be,

Baking hot sun is no fun,

An ancient tree to gaze underneath.

 

Summer breeze kisses my face,

Sea spray to tickles my salty toes,

Oh how I love the sea.

 Karen Hendriks

The Bin Brigade by Jenny Erlanger

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The Bin Brigade

 

They’re trundled to the roadside in the fading evening light

to form a guard of honour down the street.

In silence they stand waiting through the hours of the night

for Friday morning’s weekly garbage fleet.

 

Identical in stature, proud and rigid in their pose

they solemnly and dutifully wait.

A vast, impressive regiment of straight and perfect rows,

they stand as one, prepared to meet their fate.

 

Together they are ready for the wretchedness in store,

the gross humiliation they all share.

They can’t escape the horror of that ugly metal claw

that sends them flying up into the air.

 

They’re mercilessly tilted till their mouths are opened wide,

then shaken to unstick whatever’s stuck.

Their stomachs start to rumble, then from somewhere deep inside

they vomit all their contents in the truck.

 

Jenny Erlanger

 Awarded third prize in the “Adults writing for children” category of the C J Dennis Poetry Competition in 2016.