“Ginger Cats” by Toni Newell

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Ginger Cats

 

Ginger cats are different,

From any other cat,

They’re fearless, stand their ground,

And that is just a fact.

Be they short or long haired,

Doesn’t make a difference,

When they feel threatened,

They come to their defence,

Staying very calm,

They don’t run away,

But remain motionless,

Challenging the threat that way.

‘Billy Joe’, my Retriever,

Doesn’t like any cat,

When he sees one anywhere,

He’s only focused on that.

And if it is a ‘ginger’,

I tell him not to toy,

For the ‘ginger’ would eat him alive.

And he’d be a sorry boy.”

“Fire!” by J. R. Poulter

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“Burnt” by Jenny Erlanger

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Burnt

 

We’ve seen what a vengeful old planet can do

when it chooses to mount an attack.

The sky is no longer a pure sheet of blue

but a vile, toxic blanket of black.

 

These raging infernos have beggared belief

as they’ve flaunted their merciless force

and all round the world we’re united in grief

over trauma they’ve wrought in their course.

 

We mourn for the people who’ve already died

for the lives ripped apart at the seams,

for all the communities sadly denied

any chance of fulfilling their dreams.

 

The loss of our livestock and wildlife as well

has created a harrowing void

and as for the creatures surviving this hell,

their homes in the bush are destroyed.

 

It’s ever so hard to express the despair

that engulfs us right down to the core.

But we Aussies are tough and, as one, we’ll prepare

for whatever may next lie in store.

 

“An Aussie Bush Summer” by James Aitchison

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AN AUSSIE BUSH SUMMER

Golden dust veils the scalding sunset,

And eucalyptus leaves droop weary.

Heat strangles each breeze at birth,

And all the bush is quiet and eerie.

 

A lonely road wanders lost between

the fences; some cattle, black and still.

Lost interest in the grass —

And waiting for that dry creek to fill.

 

Nightfall claims the leavings of the day,

And branches reach out long and shady.  

The country’s parched and breathless,

Till once more, spring steps like a lady.

 

“Red Admiral” by Katherine Gallagher

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Red Admiral

 

In mid-January a Red Admiral butterfly

flew in front of the Lygon Street bus,

past crowds of summer shoppers

and the searing sun.

 

Dust was rising, mixed with smoke.

I wondered what would happen to the butterfly

as it flapped and flapped around curves of air.

 

Butterflies are not confident

in the way a bus is confident,

and Lygon Street was no place for a Red Admiral –

all that summer traffic and not a stinging nettle in sight.

 

“At the Dinosaur Picnic” by Katherine Gallagher

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At the Dinosaur Picnic

 

Dandy dinosaurs dancing

Dreamy dinosaurs drinking

Dexterous dinosaurs dinking

Dainty dinosaurs dazzling

Devilish dinosaurs diving

Dozy dinosaurs dallying

Delicate dinosaurs dawdling

 

“Book Spell” by Katherine Gallagher

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Book spell or how books keep me happy during the holidays

 

My room is always lined with books

full of adventures, animals and strange characters.

Books, they’re my friends, hiding in nooks,

giving me surprises

Before I know it, I’m caught just fine,

in the mysteries of a book.

“A PRICKLY TICKLY AUSSIE SUMMER” by James Aitchison

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Prickly bindi-eyes sting my feet

when on the summer grass I walk.

In everyone’s backyard I’ll meet   

                            Prickly bindi-eyes!

 

And even when tip-toed I stalk,

hoping their menace I can cheat,

I fail — and you can hear my squawk!

 

Bindi-eyes love the summer heat,

And I — I’d need eyes like a hawk

To avoid them in ev’ry street —

                            Prickly bindi-eyes!