Mike was in born in Plymouth, England and began writing funny poetry for his children when he lived and worked in Switzerland. In 2008 he published his first collection of 99 poems, A Load of New Nonsense. On Halloween of the same year, he launched his second anthology, Tales from an Alien’s Toe, and began to read to children and inspire them to write and enjoy poetry by having fun with words. After his third collection, Bits of Kids’ Brains (in which all poem titles were kindly donated by children), he put down his pen for a while and moved half way around the world with his family to Adelaide. There (or perhaps it’s here, as this is where he is), he set up an independent bookshop called Shakespeare’s, started writing for a lifestyle magazine and published his most recent collection, Things and Other Stuff. He now regularly visits schools, libraries and anywhere that will listen to him for poetry readings and workshops.

He has also been known to write serious poetry. But not often.

 

Mike’s books

A Load of New Nonsense (Ginger Cat Publishing, 2008)

Tales from an Alien’s Toe (Ginger Cat Publishing, 2008)

Bits of Kids’ Brains (Ginger Cat Publishing, 2009)

Things and Other Stuff (Ginger Cat Publishing, 2012)

Contributed to Tadpoles in the Torrens (Wakefield Press, 2013)

 

 

Contact Details

Phone: 0406 035 171

Email: info@mikelucas.com.au

Website: http://www.mikelucas.com.au/

Mike Lucas poems

 

A few of Mike’s poems:

I lost my dog

 

I lost my dog in Paris, France.

He wore a hat and purple pants.

He shouldn’t have been too hard to find –

That well-dressed dog I left behind.

 

I left him by the Eiffel Tower –

I only left him for an hour.

When I stepped back onto the ground

That dog was nowhere to be found.

 

I took a boat trip up the Seine.

I whistled and called out his name.

I asked les personnes if they’d seen

A well-dressed chien (know what I mean?).

 

A man said, “Oui! J’ai vu le dog,

A-floaty upstream sur un log.”

I said, “Merci,” then kissed the man,

Got off the boat at Notre Dame.

 

I saw the log beside the wall.

I gave a whistle, then a call

And, high above, a church bell rang,

A dog went woof, a door went SLAM!

 

I climbed up to the ringing bells

And met a priest called Saint Michel,

Who said he’d just chased off a mutt

With yellow hat and purple butt.

 

So off back down the massive church,

I stumbled, staggered, tripped and lurched,

And came upon an artists’ group

Who painted prints of doggy poop.

 

I asked them what it was they drew.

They said, “We draw zee doggy poo

Of zee most fashion-a-bul ‘ound

Zat we ‘ave ever seen around.”

 

Further away an artist sat,

Painting a man who wore a hat,

A stripy shirt, a huge moustache,

Who disappeared within a flash.

 

 

“Let me look at zat, Monsieur,”

I said and grabbed his eraseur,

Then rubbed the shirt and moustache out.

“Zat is my dog!” I gave a shout.

 

“’Ee went zat way!” yelled the artist.

“It’s time to teach him who’s smartest,”

I answered and, at steady jog,

I chased after that sly old dog.

 

Oh, that dog was such a nasty teaser.

He hid behind the Mona Lisa.

He taunted me with woof and bark

From high up on the Triomphe d’Arc.

 

He did another doggy doo

Within the modern Pompidou.

At Moulin Rouge he danced a dance

And flashed his purple doggy pants.

 

I decided I had had enough,

And put an end to all this stuff;

Decided that that dog in pants

Could stay all by himself in France.

 

So I caught the Metro underground

And took myself right out of town,

And then I caught a plane back home

And left that dog there all alone.

 

And to this day I often dwell

Upon that dog I knew so well,

With yellow hat and purple pants.

The one I lost in Paris, France.

 © Mike Lucas

 
 

Aren’t words brilliant?

 

Aren’t words brilliant?

You can get a word and ALTER it so that it changes to something else

LATER.

You can add a letter to the beginning of IT so that it becomes a BIT

different.

With some words, you can add a letter to the end of THEM to change

their THEME.

You can even put ONE in the middle of MY word and make some

MONEY.

Or (though you may not want to) reverse TONS and make SNOT.

Some words can be reversed without a PEEP and say exactly the same

thing.

You can take part of the FIrst word and part of the secoND word to

FIND a new word.

The SUM of letters in SOME words can be different, but sound exactly

the same.

You can apply this TO more than TWO different words TOO.

Sometimes, two words spelt the same way can MEAN one thing and

then MEAN something nasty.

You can take one WHOLE word, SOME other word and join them

together in a WHOLESOME way.

Some words sound the same as letters. I don’t know WHY.

Two words can be repeated, one after another. It’s interesting THAT

THAT can happen.

And finally, you can take a COMPLETE word, remove some of the

letters, add others, rearrange them and make POETRY.

Aren’t words brilliant?

 © Mike Lucas

 
 

Monster shoes

 

Monster shoes

On my feet

I’m a monster

Human meat!

 

Monster shoes

Off my feet

Not a monster

Kind and sweet

 

Monster shoes

On at night

I’m a monster

Kids to bite!

 

Monster shoes

Off at day

Big bad monster

Gone away

 

Shoe on left

Shoe off right

Not quite day

Not quite night

 

Confused monster

Nice but mean

Half a monster

In between

 

© Mike Lucas