THE OLD AUSSIE DUNNY
There was an old dunny
Made out of wood,
And out in the backyard
The old dunny stood.
Sheets of newspaper
Cut into squares,
Hung on a hook —
Please use them in pairs.
A redback spider
Dwelt under the seat,
With a puddle of water
Where you put your feet.
On a hot summer’s day
It sure wasn’t funny,
If you had to visit
That dreadful old dunny.
James Aitchison
Sometimes it’s my turn
to take him to our house
for the weekend. We celebrate.
I give him the nicest titbits
And he spins and spins on his wheel.
When I take him out of his cage,
he wanders about my room.
He’s extremely curious
and sniffs at everything in his path.
But I watch him constantly
in case he zooms away.
Katherine Gallagher
(Published in A First Poetry Book, Macmillan Children’s Books, 2012, ed Gaby Morgan and Pie Corbett)
Tiger the Tabby
Tiger was a tabby,
The cat that lived next door,
He’d often roam around our yard,
And show the birds his claw.
And every day, close on five,
His name was called out loud,
But on this day, when he was called,
He, could not be found.
We all chipped in and searched for him,
We all looked high and low,
We looked in drains and gardens,
On fences and below.
We looked at roofs and tree trunks,
And there to our surprise,
We found him in the fork of a tree,
He couldn’t move, we realised.
The neighbour fetched a ladder,
Then a volunteer stepped in,
And climbed right up that ladder,
To try and rescue him.
She reached the very top and saw,
Poor Tiger wedged right in,
She gently tried to lift him out,
With care and nurturing.
On descending, there was applause,
By those who stood below,
They cheered and clapped and sang their praise
For the volunteer, the hero.
They waited for them to come down,
As the neighbours rushed to take their cat,
The volunteer just bowed.
Toni Newell 29th May, 2019.
THE POLAR BEARS’ SECRET
Dear Jame-y you defame me
I’m not white at all.
This is a subject of confusion –
I’m just an optical illusion!
The colour white is made of light
All the colours blended bright.
But me – I’m a Polar Bear
Not one colour do I wear!
Except my skin – my skin is black!
But please don’t feel you’re taken aback.
What trick is it that shows me white?
A strange reaction of the light?
This strange reaction’s not refraction
But something closer to attraction.
I have two kinds of hair – one long and strong:
Tapered and hollow, if I’m not wrong.
It’s filled with air and called the ‘guard’
(Understanding this is really hard).
It’s made of stuff just like our nails
Not unlike a fish’s scales.
When sunrays hit my hollow hair
They bounce around while they’re in there,
They create a kind of incandescence
Something like a ‘transparescence’
In Polar Bear’s it’s the quintessence
Of what is called our luminescence.
So – every time my hair sees light
It makes my coat look really white!
PS The other kind of hair I wear
is short and thick my warmth to snare.
Jan Darling
Billy Joe
Billy Joe is lots of fun,
Curly brown hair,
And a very long tongue.
He loves to play,
And runs around,
Picks up toys,
That make a sound.
He chases birds,
But mostly balls,
And always runs back
When he’s called.
He loves his dinner,
And his treats,
He loves his walks,
And meet and greets.
He loves to snuggle,
Head on knee,
And just close his eyes,
And snore quietly.
He almost loves us,
More than we love him,
If that’s at all possible,
For our love’s to the brim.
Toni Newell 20th May, 2019
Dog
Dog waits in and out of shadows.
Dog dives around chairs and feet.
Dog looks for the spill of hands.
Dog sings the Ballad of Less and More.
Dog sleeps with one eye open.
Dog’s life isn’t negotiable.
Dog circles moons of language.
Dog barks for homecomings.
Dog is a name away.
Remember you can’t lose Dog.
Sooner or later, Dog will find you.
©Katherine Gallagher, 2018
Demetrius to Elizabeth
The donkeys of Hydra
are sure-footed, reliable
taking goods from the harbour
up steep cliffs to town
Kangaroos in Australia
will not carry loads
their convenient pockets
hold nothing but babies
These unlikely animals
at unbeatable speed
leap yards at a bound
but only on flats
Without animals to harness
or bear our loads
how can we farm?
We’ll get rich with children!
We’ll get rich with gold!
Virginia Lowe
CURIOUS COLLECTIVES NO. 12
I kept reading and counting and reading some more
Till I reached two hundred and sixty four
That’s the number of species in the world of the Monkey
That’s a BIG number – that’s really funky.
To complicate things a little bit more
(at this point my eyes began to get sore)
They’re divided again by where they are found
In the East or the West, up trees, on the ground.
Turns out it’s easier to go by the times
When we’re talking of Monkeys from different climes
The Old World Monkey has a different nose
And his tail’s less supportive when he’s on his toes.
They all live in Africa and all over Asia
Seventy eight species – enough to amaze ya.
The Old World Monkey has a narrower nose
And his tail’s less useful when dealing with foes.
But the New World Monkey’s *prehensile of tail
Adding grip, swing and style – through the trees he can sail;
His side-facing nostrils and a nose which is flatter
Let him breathe easy while sharing his chatter.
Where is his homeland – this Monkey-come-lately?
Is it Norway or Russia or somewhere less stately?
He hails from America, the land in the South
Where he lives his life happy, not just hand to mouth.
************************************
Who’s the tiniest Monkey on all of the Earth?
In West Amazon basin his mother gives birth
The Pygmy Marmoset looks neat on your hand
(Being kept as a pet is not everywhere banned).
He’s around 6 inches, that’s reeeaally small
And six ounces he weighs – head to toe that is all.
He’s covered with fur – gray, tawny or gold
He can live to fifteen – now that’s pretty old.
His tail beats his body – it’s LONGER than that
It’s strong and it’s muscly, with no useless fat.
He can leap in the air to fifteen feet
Fifteen feet! He’s six inches? That’s really neat.
They talk to each other with chatter and trilling
In pitches so high your eardrum’s not willing
To listen to sound so hurtful to ears.
Listening too long can bring you to tears.
In families they live together for life
Facing each problem, solving their strife
The Troop (as they’re called) can number round nine
At night: they will rest; daily: hunt, hide and dine.
They eat leaves, bugs and plants and love to sip sap
They waste nothing when eating, not even a scrap.
Their heads they can swing from east right to west
One eighty degrees – with broad view they are blest.
From danger they hide, jumping branch over tree
Dashing and leaping to keep themselves free,
Forest plants offer cover, and their colour does blend
Into the background, the foliage their friend.
*************************************
So, friends of the Monkey… what do youthink?
You’d like a Monkey who’s special – what about pink?
Take a look at the Mandrill, he’s clearly no frump
Blue and red on the face and a brightly hued rump.
The Mandrill’s from Old World and lives where it rains
In equatorial forests, not open plains;
There’s no Monkey as colourful in jungle or Zoo
As the world’s biggest Monkey – the Mandrill, that’s who!
His face is clean shaven, the better to show
His features in colours that brilliantly glow
He eats roots, fruits and insects, small animals, too
And the Mandrill most colourful is first in the queue.
They live all together in hundreds called Hordes
They’re generally happy, not crossing swords,
They groom each other as most **primates do
Whether living in the wild or at home in the Zoo.
How big does this biggest of all Monkeys grow?
Sixty kilo’s the biggest on record, we know.
The female grows half of the size of the male
He’s always more colourful, she tends toward pale.
********************************************
We’ve Monkeys from Old World and New World – that’s swell
We’ve done smallest and biggest and brightest as well
But there’s still something more of interest to know
About how people describe Monkey groups when on show.
In general you’ll hear more Collectives in use –
Remembering’s easy, their meanings are loose.
You’ll find Monkeys in Barrels, in Tribes and in Troops
In Missions and Cartloads – all terms for their Groups.
And most fun of all is to watch them at play
They’re very like us when they join in the fray
The Infants are cared for by all of the Troop
Aunts, uncles and cousins are kept in the loop.
Jan Darling
*prehensile: means capable of grasping. Monkeys use their prehensile tails for balancing when on the ground and for grasping when tree-swinging.
**primates are an order of mammals which is distinguished by having hands and hand-like feet and forward-facing eyes. They are often agile tree-dwellers. Monkeys, apes, marmosets, lemurs, bushbabies and humans (not so agile when swinging through trees) all share these features
Teaching notes
Compare Imperial measures used in this verse to Metric.
6 inches = 15.2cms
6 ounces =170g
15 feet = 4.57m
60 kilograms = 132lbs
The writer mixed Imperial with metric to simplify the verse.
How many species of Monkey are there?
How are the two groups of Monkeys generally defined?
On which continents do these groups live?
Which is the biggest Monkey in the world?
Is he Old World or New World?
Which is the smallest Monkey in the world?
Is he Old World or New World?
Which is the most colourful Monkey in the world?
Information not included in the verse:
The brilliant blue of the face and rump of the Mandrill is not due to pigmentation but results from the scattering of light by the array of collagen fibres in the dermis. The exact shade is determined by the size and spacing of these fibres in different areas of the skin.
A similar condition causes polar bear fur to look white. Polar fur actually has no pigmentation, its fibres are hollow and made of keratin with light scattering particles which create the white effect. The polar bear’s skin is actually black!
How many terms for groups of Monkeys can you name?
Go to YouTube for spectacular pictures of Mandrills and Pygmy Marmosets.
NW have 12 premolars instead of 8.
Mostly arboreal, NW more likely to form pair bonds
MY SECRET FRIEND
My secret friend
So fat and round
Under my bed
Was often found.
My secret friend
Liked being alone
Avoids emails
And mobile phone.
My secret friend
Never idle
Can walk up walls
With sideways sidle.
My secret friend
With legs of eight
And web well made
Prepares to wait.
My secret friend
Clears my room
Of flying pests
His web their tomb.
My secret friend
Costs nothing to feed
He always finds
The food he’ll need.
My secret friend
So black and furry
After he’s fed
Is almost purry.
My secret friend
So very lovable
Mum believes
He’s only trouble.
My secret friend
Had got to go
Mum thinks spiders
The deadly foe.
My secret friend
Doesn’t have ears
But very hurt
About Mum’s fears.
My secret friend
Was so bereft
He packed his bags
And quickly left.
My secret friend
So fat and round
Under my bed
No longer found.
oooOooo
© Margaret Pearce
Pet Rex
Some animals
don’t make good pets.
And one of them
would be T rex.
A dinosaur
so tall and wide
there’s no way
he could live inside.
Tyrannosaurus rex
is large.
His head would fill-up
your garage.
Twelve metre driveways
would be great
to fit his tail
inside the gate.
With stinky breath
from eating meat
you’d want to clean
his big strong teeth.
He’s got bad manners
when he’s fed.
His tiny arms
can’t reach his head!
first published in CSIRO’s Scientriffic magazine issue #77 March 2012
with illustration by Science Writer Mike McRae
Australian Children’s Poetry 