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