Today’s Poem of the Day was composed by a group of elderly people in a Victorian nursing home under the leadership of Robyn Youll who presents poetry readings and workshops to them weekly. The poem was inspired by ‘Leaves’, a recent Poem of the Day.

Leaves

In Autumn

English Invaders

shed

Crackling – underfoot,

Gutter – clogging,

Wind – dancing,

Leaves

Australian Eucalypts

stubbornly

cling to

hard leaves

shiny leaves

fire-loving leaves

harsh climate leaves.

Evergreen Eucalypts

shed

bark instead

English Leaves

paint

Autumn

Bronze

Scarlet

Yellow

Gold

Then

English Leaves

Paint

Spring

Green

Again

In

Summer

Eucalyptus Leaves

Bushfire scarlet.

Providence U3A: 26^th May: Prudence Marsh. (Prudence Marsh in the nom-de-plume for Group Poetry)

Prompt: Di Bates Poem: Leaves.

Present: Ted, Verna, Lucy, Margaret W.,M.[briefly] Joyce,Dorothy, Sirkka, Pat, Betty R.,F., Melvie.

This year’s theme for Reconciliation Week is “Walk the Talk”.

Reconciliation Rap

Hey, hey,

It’s time to say,

Gotta walk the talk,

It’s the only way!

Gotta do it right,

Whether black or white,

No room for hate –

REC-ON-CIL-IATE!

Hey, ho,

It’s the way to go,

Gotta keep it real,

From head to toe.

Gotta stay on track,

Whether white or black,

No room for hate –

REC-ON-CIL-IATE!

Hey, hey,

Let me hear you say,

Gonna walk the talk,

Every night and day!

Gonna say it loud,

Gonna say it proud,

Make our country great –

REC-ON-CIL-IATE!

© Jill McDougall

Check out other poems by Jill on her website, www.jillmcdougall.com.au

LEAVES

Leaves have thousands of brothers and sisters

Leaves jostle and elbow one another

Leaves wave at the sky when it’s breezy

Leaves batter window panes on windy nights

Leaves have veins but never get varicose veins

Leaves never have to go on diets

Leaves abandon trees in winter and gather in piles in autumn

Leaves sizzle like steaks on a barbie when there are bushfires

Leaves make friends with fruit

Leaves are McDonald’s for hungry koalas

Leaves hate kerosene and matches.

© Dianne Bates

dibates@outlook.com

Note: I wrote this poem as an example to my child writing students to show them how they can think laterally about commonplace objects. The idea came from Steven Herrick’s wonderful poem, Walls, which I also display to students. Di

Bullies

With the eye in the back of his head

he sees them coming —

eight-year-old breakers,

baby-hard, baby-soft.

Their space-machine, so elegant

could swallow him,

drown him once and for all

in a dish of air.

No use trying to rewrite the law:

they are the masters —

skills bred in the bone.

He freezes —

they expect it,

though a voice inside him squeaks

I … Words cut his tongue,

weigh in his mind like a bruise.

© Katherine Gallagher

(Published in Them and Us (The Bodley Head, 1993) and Ramshackle Rainbow (Macmillan Children’s books, 2001)

Katherine Gallagher is a widely-published Australian poet resident in London. She writes for children and adults and has poems in many children’s anthologies. About Bullies, she says, ‘I wrote this poem in response to bullying that I witnessed in a local primary school. Bullying is tragic and a big social problem; children become increasingly insecure and afraid. Sadly, they often don’t tell anyone, even parents and teachers, and this misery can affect them for the rest of their lives’. 

Today’s blog is aimed at teachers of primary and secondary students; it offers ways in which you might like to use this blog site or otherwise employ poetry in your classroom.

• Research and find poems from poets listed in the A to Z of Australian children’s poetry and then give a class presentation
• Check out at least one of the poetry website links on the blog site and tell the class what they found
• Enter poems they have written into children’s competitions listed on the site
• Write an email – or a letter – to one of the poets listed on the blog site
• Write a poem and submit it to the site as the Poem of the Day
• Invite a poet – or a community leader – to visit your school to read and/or recite poems at your school assembly.
• Ask every child in your class to find a poem they love and create a class poetry anthology
• Organise a poetry read based on poems collected for the anthology
• Write a class acrostic poem using the teacher’s surname
• Talk about free verse and read a verse novel to your class
• Make a collection of poems displayed on the site (from the A to Z of poets) and from the Poem of the Day
• Display a Poem of the Day written by a student on the class noticeboard
• Find and share silly, short poems written by Anonymous
• For a class assembly item, have the class present poetry connected by a theme (for example: family, food, games)
• For a fun activity in class, have students talk to one another in rhyming couplets for a limited period
• Raid home, public and school libraries for poetry collections and anthologies; when it’s time for DEAR, have students read from one of the books
• After DEAR, each child share a poem they really liked
• Memorise and recite poems found on the Australian children’s poetry blog site
• Have class work together to write an article about poetry in their class and submit it to the blog site
• Have students find children’s poetry websites and blogs not listed on the blog site and submit them as links

   

Feel free to send in information about how you employ poetry in your classroom if you’re a teacher. Or if you are a student, send in your thoughts, too! Send to dibates@outlook.com

Hot Summer Day

The seashells I’ve collected stink,

not one of them is pretty.

My cordial’s too warm to drink,

my sandwiches are gritty.

I’d build a fortress on the shore

but no one here will help.

I won’t go swimming any more

with jelly fish and kelp.

My face is hot, it’s getting pink.

I’ll turn into a peach.

I hate to grizzle, but I think

it’s time to leave the beach!

© Jenny Erlanger

Although I have many positive memories of the many Christmases I spent as a child on the Mornington Peninsula, eating sandwiches on the beach in the middle of summer, with no shade in sight, was not one of them. This poem comes from my volume of children’s poetry, Giggles and Niggles (Haddington Press, 2007)

The Back of Beyond

“We’re going on a holiday.

We’re packing bags and GOING AWAY!

‘Away from it all’ in a camper-van.”

That’s how Dad announced his plan.

“Away from it all! Far out!” I said.

But Dad just grinned and raised his head

and muttered “Yes! exactly so.

The Back of Beyond is where we’ll go.”

“How long does it take to get to Beyond?”

I asked, but when he didn’t respond

I asked if there’d be other stops

along the way. Would there be shops

to buy some food? And would there be

interesting things to do and see?

“Away from it all!” How could Dad

think that was fun? Had he gone mad?

‘Beyond’ was not on any map.

Was this plan some kind of trap?

I told him: “Dad, I want to know

About this trip, or I won’t go.”

He promised lots to see and do:

A locust plague in Bugaboo

Kangaroo pies in Pinnaroo

Dingoes howling in Orrorooooooooooo….

DAD! What are you trying to do?

Names like that just can’t be true—

You’ve made them up, haven’t you.

I’m staying here in Woolloomooloo!

© Kate O’Neil   http://www.kateoneil.com.au

The above poem was placed second in the 2011 Toolangi CJ Dennis competition

SCARED!

by Edel Wignell

One day the numerals were playing in the park;

They all seemed friendly, the game was a lark.

But six was scared, kept glancing around –

Ready to dash away with a bound.

The leader called them to stand in a row,

But six hung back, refusing to go.

‘I’m scared of seven at the top of the line.’

So why was six scared? Because seven ate nine.

© The Australian Society of Authors

Blue Cheese and Honey

There lived a horse who liked blue cheese

Served on a plate upon his knees

And every day the meal he ate

was cheese he ‘d placed upon his plate.

While out one day he found some honey

and poured it all – so sweet and runny-

upon the cheese upon the plate

set on his knees and so he ate

But the honey he had taken

Could have been a BIG mistake!

Bees flying in a frenzied state

Made a beeline for his plate

The horse ran off and left the honey –

upon the cheese – all sweet and runny

Thousands landed on his cheese

consuming honey as they pleased

Till gorging on and sated soon

they droned off in the afternoon

The horse returned and placed the plate

upon his knees and he was pleased

to realise-at least the bees

had left his Blue Cheese – which he ate.!

So if you choose to eat blue cheese

served on a plate upon your knees

avoid the thought of honey dressing.

Blue cheese – alone -is quite impressing!

© 2013 Jill Carter-Hansen, jill@visionaryimages.com.au

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