Poetry Prompt #4 inspired Helen Hagemann to submit this selection of poems. Helen says: I have three grand-children under seven years of age (both parents work) and therefore I notice things like towels left on the floor! Also I like subjects that might possibly appeal to children. The Subject Tonight is Towel The subject tonight […]
Imagining the Life of an Earwig by Helen Hagemann Leave a door open long enough and an earwig will enter. The kitchen is the most popular to travel in. Among insects a decision is made (those of different species) not to touch or pass by in the hallway. An ant and earwig might come […]
Crusader Beetle by Helen Hagemann She is not the Japanese beetle who devastates rows of basil plants; that brown and black fellow chomping circles in your garden spaghetti herbs. She is not elongated, black and lemon-tipped like Soldier beetle who swarms in number spring and summer; gardeners anxious they’re plaguing Melbourne. […]
Brown Honeyeaters By Helen Hagemann A brilliant blue rising from a bronze morning and Brown Honeyeaters are circling the garden. Today, they are in the olive tree in my neighbour’s yard, performing aerial songs (although it’s more a short sharp, tweep!). Before spring, I counted two regular visitors to our horticulture of […]
Silverfish by Helen Hagemann Not as lucky as a Las Vegas dollar nor as silver, but if you look inside panelled rooms there may be several silverfish touring endlessly in the house of a miser or in one of those 19th century cottages where the rain soaks North Somerset, bookshelves covered in trench coats. You […]
Sorry Notes by Helen Hagemann In the morning when I walked outside it was like stepping back into a previous spring, one year ago, and counting on ten fingers the number of mice our male cat had dropped at the back door. So I wasn’t surprised this year to see another mouse, already in rigor […]
Questions about Wasps by Helen Hagemann Each morning, a wasp starts out as a lone traveller heading into the garden, its hind legs dangling and trailing in the wind. These moments are an eloquent gesture of nature, the wasp on a journey into nectar, jazzing up noisy wings, talkative as the bumble bee already in […]
Praying Mantis by Helen Hagemann From inside the house the praying mantis looks like a caught twig, a small gesture of wood rocking on wire. Up close, it draws you in and outdoors, its pencil-spine a cloudy grey. Grey as the litany of squares she hugs. The most interesting thing is the way she carries […]
Australian Children’s Poetry 