Inspiration
The artist saw a landscape;
It inspired him to paint.
The poet saw her painting;
It inspired him to write.
The musician read the words,
And wrote a melody to match.
The dancer heard the song,
And it inspired them to dance!
Author Archives: australianchildrenspoetry
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentSweet Treats
Here’s a list of special treats I’m sure you’d love to eat.
You might want to add some more to make the list complete:
Marvellous marshmallows, yielding and chewy;
Soft-centred chocolates, so creamy and gooey;
Fabulous fairy floss, wispy and sticky,
(Keeping your face clean’s especially tricky!);
Honeycomb crunchy and boiled lollies brittle:
None of this easy to stop at a little.
Yes, truly this sweet stuff is lovely to taste,
But too much is bound to add weight to your waist.
There’s one further warning: I’ll keep it quite brief.
Make sure that you never stop cleaning your teeth!
Monty Edwards
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #4
Author Comment: Connecting texture with food provided the belated inspiration for this poem, with sweets in particular of great interest to children (and not a few adults).
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentQuestions
The comma never stands alone,
It’s carefully aligned
with words on either side of it
that keep it well confined.
The exclamation mark stands tall,
a rigid, lofty stake.
So confident, so self-assured,
it has a point to make.
The full stop leads an easy life,
indeed, a life in clover.
What lies ahead’s of no concern,
what lies behind is over.
But spare a thought for question marks,
hunch-backed and somewhat hollow.
Are they perhaps concerned about
the answers that may follow?
Jenny Erlanger
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #19
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentDirection Overload
I’m always being given directions.
At home:
How to behave properly
How to speak politely to my stupid sisters
Clean my room, take out the rubbish
Feed the dog
Dry the dishes
Obey the rules!
At school:
How to improve my grades
How to set out my work neatly
How to get on with girls
Obey the rules!
There are also directions
On what not to do —
Not to wear my cap indoors
Not to use cuss words
Not to talk in class or call out
Not to break or even bend
The rules!
Often I feel like getting other directions:
The way to another home
Where there are
No jobs
No stupid sisters
No rules!
And I’d like directions to a school
Where there is
No homework
No bossy teachers
No girls
And guess what?
NO RULES!
Dianne Bates
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #18
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentBuried Treasure
A pearly cluster of
tiny jewels,
part buried,
unhurried,
waiting
for your armour
to form.
Be cautious tiny spirals,
your eyes on stalks.
Stay in the low light
and be nervous of the night.
Listen for the ripple of rats
who may see your silver trail
and lick their lips.
Stay safe in the leaf litter
little ones,
small saviours of our ecosystems.
Your ancestors shared their world
with dinosaurs.
Please show us how to share.
Pat Simmons
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #20
Pat says: I’m fascinated by snails and sad to discover that more species of snail have become extinct in recent years than any other animal.
Poem of the Day
Leave a comment
If a rosebud could talk,
Would it hum like the bees?
Or would the petals soft whisper, be lost to the breeze.
If a seashell could talk,
Would it crash like a wave?
Telling off all the mermaids, who didn’t behave.
If a feather could talk,
Would it sing through the night?
Calling out to the bird, who had lost it in flight.
If I could talk to them all
Then so quiet I’d stay,
For if we would just listen, imagine what they might say.
Sioban Timmer
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #20
Sioban says: When I looked at this prompt I originally pondered the connection to each other – nature. Then, what do these things symbolise? What do they ‘say to me’? Then I thought what would they SAY to me and that led to this.
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentA Single Thought
A single thought
Sends a man up a mountain
Or across vast oceans
Into unknown lands.
A single thought
Helps to unlock science
An apple falls
And he understands.
A single thought
Is the birth of kindness
Or the start of a story
Or an idea grand.
A single thought
(like the one you’re thinking)
Is how many great things
In this world began.
Lynelle Kendall
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #6
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentBUTTERFLY MOTHER
Dancing the tune of the breeze
She lifts her coat sleeves –
And freezes as if in prayer
To breed in the shady leaves;
Green confetti in air.
On the rib-case underneath –
A waxy seam of leaf,
Tiny eggs, colour of cream
Are stuck with butterfly paste.
Blue lady lifts as a dream,
Leaving them, to hatch or waste.
Who knows where she goes
Blue butterfly mother?
© Dianne Bates
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentThe Prowler
by Monty Edwards
Do you see
the prehistoric prowler
lurking among the leaves
eager to devour
some helpless victim
insufficiently alert
to impending catastrophe?
You need neither fear
nor flee from
this reptilian rogue
for I find him exposed
as a harmless lizard.
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #8
Author Comment: Guessing, but being unable to precisely identify the creature pictured in the prompt, I decided to use its identity as the basis for my poem.
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentColour War
In the garden
orange nasturtiums arrived
and went wild
taking on the whole bed
of Flanders poppies.
They clashed terribly.
The nasturtiums
made swift advances
crawling stealthily
through the proud
rows of nodding red
blooms heavy with
memories of far fields
and so many dead.
The poppies knew
what was coming.
“All’s fair in love and war,”
shouted the nasturtiums,
tumbling them
into disarray before
trampling them
into the bed
in bloody conquest.
Kate O’Neil
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #15
Author comment: Nasturtium – a symbol of power and of conquest and victory in battle.
Australian Children’s Poetry 