Author Archives: australianchildrenspoetry

Poem of the Day

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 A BOOGER IN MY HANKY

by Allan Cropper

 

There’s a booger in my hanky, it’s been there for half an hour

It is fresh and it is green, but it tastes a little sour

I will hide it in my sock drawer if I ever take a shower

I wonder if my mother’s gonna mind

 

There’s a booger in my hanky and it’s been there all the day

It is icky and it’s sticky and it’s looking pretty grey

I think I’ll try to train it, and teach it how to stay

I wonder if my mother’s gonna mind

 

There’s a booger in my hanky and it’s been in there all week

It is probably worth a lot ’cause it’s almost an antique

If you really want to see it I can give you a quick peak

I wonder if my mother’s gonna mind

 

There’s a booger in my hanky, now it’s been in there a year

It’s as solid as a rock and it’s looking pretty clear

That the booger is a goner, but don’t you shed a tear

There’s plenty of other boogers I can find

I wonder if my mother’s gonna mind

 

 

 

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Moving marvel

By Teena Raffa-Mulligan

 

I can

Banana bend

Licorice twist

Jelly wibble wobble.

 

See me

Caterpillar creep

Snake slither

Deer dash and dart.

 

I am

Rock steady

Tree tall

River rush and flow.

 

Love this

Body mine

Body strong

This moving marvel.

* First published in School Magazine.

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Green winter

by Nadine Cranenburgh

 

In winter my feet get quite chilly

So I wear umpteen socks, I’m not silly

When the gas bills come in

They all go in the bin

And I burn them to boil up my billy

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Feeling Weird

by Allan Cropper

Have you woken up to find
you don’t know how you feel?
That’s how I felt when I woke up today.
I tried to find a word that would
express the way I felt
but there were not the words that would convey
the feelings I was feeling, for
it all felt so surreal,
a feeling like no other I have known.
I cannot find the words to tell you
how it is I felt.
I’ll have to make up new words of my own.

I felt flagisticatious,
all wimbillical inside.
Indubicartly grobble-poxed, was I.
Befuddulant and jingle-jacked,
quite micro-ballical,
which can’t have been too pleasing to the eye.
I felt so astro-numical,
anthortical in fact,
in a very catostrismic kind of way.
And that, my friend, just sums it up –
exactly how I felt –
the way I felt when I awoke today.

Poem of the Day

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The offering

by Jenny Erlanger

Today she brought a lizard’s tail

and dropped it at my feet.

and yesterday a mangled snail

was offered as a treat.

 

A present helps me when I’m flat.

It gives me such a lift

but not when it’s the family cat

delivering the gift.

 

 

Poetry pointers

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To rhyme or not to rhyme?

Where do you get ideas? How do you write a poem? Do poems have to rhyme? What makes it a poem if it doesn’t rhyme? Who publishes poetry? How do I become a children’s poet? What is your top tip for writers who want to write poetry for children?

These are among the myriad questions asked by writers who want to write poetry. How would you answer them? If you have a poetry pointer to share, email me at traffa-m(at)bigpond.net.au

 

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Cat and bag

by Nadine Cranenburgh

 

It rustles, bustles in the breeze

I’m creeping, peeping round the couch

Nearer, nearer almost there

I pounce, but wait

Now it has me!

Let go, you sack of crinkly skin

Stop chasing me

Please stop

You win!

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Wrecked!

by Jill McDougall

 

I’ve scraped the skin

From off my chin,

My arms and legs are grazed,

My elbow’s sprained,

My ankle’s maimed,

I’m feeling kind of dazed.

 

I’ve crunched my neck,

My knee’s a wreck,

My fingers curl like claws,

My dental work

Has gone berserk

And jammed up both my jaws.

 

My eyes are black,

My nose is red,

My lips are turning blue –

So tell me why

The teachers cry –

SPORT IS GOOD FOR YOU!

 

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A FROG ON A LOG

by Allan Cropper

A frog

a frog on a log

a frog on a log with a bag full of sticks

a frog on a log with a bag full of tricks

a frog

a magical frog

a mystical frog

a wave

a wave of a stick

a wave of a stick from his bag full of tricks

a wave of a wand from his bag full of sticks

a fog

a magical fog

a mystical fog

a mist

a mist on a pond

a mystical fog on a frog on a log

a frog on a log was no longer a frog

a frog on a log had turned into a dog

a dog

a magical dog

a mystical dog

a dog

a dog not a frog

a dog, not a frog, on a log in a fog

a dog not a frog with a bag full of sticks

a dog not a frog with a bag full of tricks

a wave

a wave of a stick

a wave of a stick from his bag full of tricks

a wave of a wand from his bag full of sticks

a smog

a magical smog

a mystical smog

a twist

a twist of a tail

a magical smog and the pond was a bog

a dog not a frog was no longer a dog

a dog not a frog had turned into a hog

a hog

a magical hog

a mystical hog

a hog

a hog not a dog

a hog not a frog

a hog in a bog

a hog not a dog or a frog on a log

a hog in a bog not a dog or a frog

a magical hog with a bag full of sticks

a magical hog with a bag full of tricks

Poem of the Day

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Fishing woes

by Jenny Erlanger

 

I felt such delight

with the tug of its bite

and its fight till the end to be free.

But now that my fish

has been served on a dish

I just wish it were back in the sea.