CLOUDS
Have you ever lain on your back, watching skies above
When clouds are making quite a show, a ship, a tree, a dove?
A constant changing scene to keep you quite enthralled,
Simple easy pleasure that has no cost at all.
You sometimes see a fairy, an ogre or a frog,
You let imagination go and even see a hog.
When your mind comes back to earth and all around seems bland,
You can enjoy the memory of, a cloudy fairyland.
MOANDAYS ARE WEAKDAYS
Every Moanday I’m filled with dread,
I simply can’t get out of bed,
I pull the covers over my head,
And hope that Moanday will go away.
Every Moanday I’m filled with fear
The week lies ahead, bleak and drear,
I just can’t get myself into gear,
I hope that Moanday will go away.
Every Moanday I’m such a fool —
All my friends will be there at school!
We’ll play, have fun, and that’ll be cool —
And then I’m up, up, up and away!
James Aitchison
Watermelon Boy
One time I saw a kid on telly
Eating watermelon;
The pink bit and the skin.
I wondered how
He managed it,
How did he fit it in?
How did his teeth
Get through the green.
So thick and hard and tough?
Surely the yummy,
juicy guts inside it
Were enough?
But nope,
This kid kept eating.
Both the green bit and the pink.
Then he looked straight at the camera,
And he gave
A cheeky wink.
Leaving home
I think I’ll leave home
‘cause just lately I’ve found
that with all that I do
I am never around.
There’s Drama on Mondays
from six until eight
and it’s not long to bed
when I get home so late.
On Tuesdays there’s tennis,
an hour long session
and Wednesdays are saved
for the Yamaha lesson.
Evenings on Thursdays
are always the same.
I train with my team
for the next footy game.
On Fridays it’s swimming,
I’m off to the pool
and for hours in between
I’m just sitting at school.
So, I’m hardly at home,
no, I’m never about.
I may as well pack up my things…
and move out!
First published in “Giggles and Niggles” (Haddington Press, 2007)
South Beach
This is the dangerous time, sky clouding:
lifesavers on the alert, intermittently moving the flags,
shoals of swimmers still keening the fray.
Only a narrow stretch of ocean left now
between the signposts, the spume growing wilder
lifting more boldly – you imagine yourself drawn in,
tugged all ways past the horizon.
Isn’t it enough just to be here on this ivory sand
watching breakers curl against clouds darkening, still far out,
spellbound by the limitless, the reach of coast?
Six o’clock now, the show’s closing down.
A few paragliders swoop in
while children put final touches to their sandcastle.
Soon they’ll carry water to the moat.
©Katherine Gallagher2010
(from Carnival Edge: New & Selected Poems, Arc Publications, 2010)
Four Legs
Four legs and a tail –
it could be a dog.
Four legs and a croak?
That’s a frog!
Four legs and a hump –
it must be a camel.
Four legs and fur?
It’s some kind of mammal.
But four legs and a mane –
long legs for trotting,
strong galloping legs,
and a tail for fly swatting?
That’s easy now,
I know it of course!
That four legged friend
is a horse.
Penny Szentkuti
The Thing-a-me-bunyaroo
The Thing-a-me-bunyaroo
Is a very strange creature, it’s true!
He’s as tall as a man
And stout as a ram
With a long, shaggy coat of blue.
The Thing-a-me-bunyaroo
Loves to find nuts to chew.
His teeth are as strong
As the river is long
But he also loves apple stew.
The Thing-a-me-bunyaroo
Has been seen by very few.
He hides in the billabong by day
And then comes happily out to play
At night, amongst the dew.
The Thing-a-me-bunyaroo;
Where to find him? I haven’t a clue!
I’d like to meet him just for fun,
Play ‘Hide and Seek’ or ‘Tag and Run’
With the Thing-a-me-bunyaroo… Wouldn’t you?
A SEASONAL TELESTITCH
The end of cold days:
Farewell! Adieu!
The sun rises warm
But expect a quick storm,
Then catch a wave —
It’s my kind of weather!
The sunsets glow red
Across Australia,
We’re all on holiday —
The best of all times!
James Aitchison
TELESTITCH
A telestitch is the opposite of an acrostic. Discover the poem’s hidden message by reading the last letter (rather than the first) of each line.
Give it a try
And most of all — have fun!
Australian Children’s Poetry 