Howling winds
from raging seas,
relentless, wild,
distort the trees.
Stunted growth
in salty air,
in sandy soil,
forlorn and bare.
Yet even here
we find beauty,
in harsh and tangled
symmetry.

Howling winds
from raging seas,
relentless, wild,
distort the trees.
Stunted growth
in salty air,
in sandy soil,
forlorn and bare.
Yet even here
we find beauty,
in harsh and tangled
symmetry.

a poem can be quite funny
a poem can be quite sad
some poems are really sensible
while others are quite mad
some are rather silly
designed to fashion laughs
with talk of roosters ducks and geese
or large long necked giraffes
but poems can tell a story
not just be rhyming word
a poem can make your heart take flight
on strong emotions stirred
a poem can give you pleasure
wonderous and sublime
of which there is no measure
take you to another time
and poems belong to everyone
just follow where they lead
turn the page and there they are
in thought word and deed
for poetry is ancient
a timeless limitless cloak
of thoughts and feelings infinite
as old as language spoke
Milo and I took a stroll through the park.
Mum said “Remember! Be home before dark.”
We spotted a goanna hiding in the grass.
He was in our way so we couldn’t get past.
Milo can’t talk but he sure can bark.
He scared that goanna right out of the park.
We came upon a cassowary underneath a tree.
I didn’t like the way that he was looking at me.
Milo can’t talk but he sure can bark.
He scared that bird right out of the park.
We crept up on a snake that was resting in the shade.
It made a hissing noise and I felt quite afraid.
Milo can’t talk but he sure can bark.
He scared that snake right out of the park.
We noticed an echidna searching for some ants,
all around the tree roots and up and down the plants.
Milo can’t talk but he sure can bark.
He scared that echidna right out of the park.
Then I said to Milo it’s getting very dark.
It’s just about time that we were leaving this park.
But just as we’d decided we really shouldn’t stay,
who do you think was standing in our way?
With looks on their faces that made me start to shake,
goanna, echidna, cassowary, snake.
Standing at the front and peering through the grass
was old man goanna who wouldn’t let us pass.
And echidna and cassowary looking so mean
that my knees started knocking, what a frightening scene.
Waiting right beside them to give us such a scare
was snake with his forked tongue testing the air.
Milo can’t talk and he couldn’t even bark.
We were both so scared we ran right out of that park!
I saw some rocks in Ireland
and the farmer there explained,
“I built myself a little wall
to keep my sheep contained.”
“The big stones on the bottom,”
the smaller ones on top,
and it cost me not a penny
for my roaming sheep to stop.”
“And who needs to have a gate
when you have this kind of pen?
I just lift some stones away,
then put them back again.”
Teacher’s note: Dry stone walls are constructed of carefully selected interlocking stones without mortar to hold them in place. Found in hilly areas of Britain, Scotland and Ireland, especially in Connemara on the West Coast where large stones exist in the soil. One system of Irish dry stone walls was carbon-dated to 3800 BC. Closer to home, dry stone walls can be found in western Victoria, some parts of Tasmania, and around Kiama in New South Wales.

In the Land that Never Was something’s very strange because
Everyone who’s living there always has quite messy hair
In this land as you look around things disappear without a sound
So you must be careful where you look which makes it hard to read a book
A spell was put upon this place by a goblin mean with nasty face
Who people tried hard to avoid which made the goblin most annoyed
So angry did he get one day he said “I’ll make these people pay
Since they refuse to look at me I’ll take away all that they see”
“Gingel gangel gungel gel” went the nasty goblins spell
“to smell and taste and hears’s okay but where they look will go away”
“All except what they stand on this will always carry on
The ground will always remain there as one safe place for them to stare”
It didn’t take the people long to realise what was going on
They’d look in mirror to brush their hair and find themselves no longer there
And so with family and friends one look would surely mean their end
Thus they learnt to move around looking only at the ground
Mirrors had to be thrown out and people soon forgot about
The need to brush their hair each day for no one would see it anyway
The goblin clapped his hands with glee and said “Oh clever clever me”
Which made everybody look at him and that removed his nasty grin
Now the ugly goblin’s gone but his spell still lingers on
And the people still have their messy hair because there are no mirrors there
stretch out your toes,
as far as it goes!
let your long fingers
out, so each one lingers…
breathe from down low,
let the good air flow!
jump like the stars,
or leap over the bars!
lie down on the mat
and arch like a cat!
or extend a leg or arm,
and sway slow like a charm!
stretch every good muscle
slooow…among others’ hustle –
don’t forget to drink water,
and cooling down after!
to get fit needs routine
to get muscley and lean –
whether morn or afternoon,
please do come again soon!
The rain is dancing down the street,
across the park and up the lane.
It’s teeming where I stand to meet
the clickety-clackety morning train.
The rain is hammering on the rooves
and causing such a fuss.
It’s drenching where I stand to meet
the braking quaking bus.
The rain is splashing on the ground
creating puddles deep.
To get to where I need to be
I’ve got to hop and leap.
The rain is filling all the creeks.
The gutters run with foam.
It’s wet day lunch at school today,
I think I’ll just stay home.
While I was walking by the sea
A seagull chose to follow me,
But soon one gull turned into two,
Then three, then four, began a queue!
When five or six swelled to a crowd
Their conversation grew quite loud.
This made it clear I’d have no peace
Without some way to make them cease.
I clapped my hands and stamped my feet,
I waved my cap, but faced defeat:
A few wings fluttered, webbed feet shuffled,
But squarks continued, quite unmuffled.
Seagull numbers kept on mounting!
It was then I started shouting:
“Please, I yelled, “Please go away!”
Not one gull did. They chose to stay.
Quite suddenly I had a hunch
That what they wanted was my lunch!
Can a seagull lick its lips?
Yes, it will, for fish and chips!
So off I ran to grassy ground,
There with seagulls all around,
I unwrapped lunch and chose to share:
Whoosh! Gulls arrived from everywhere!!
Blobs of jellyfish dot the sea shore
Why are they there? I’m not sure.
Their gooey bodies spoil the view
Interrupting the spotless blue.
They are in the way of my feet too!

Original artwork by Gemma Creegan
You say I haven’t listened
to a word you’ve said today
or to anything you’ve told me in the week.
But I think, in my defence,
that it is pretty fair to say
when I’m in the mood to listen, you don’t speak.