Lyle the Lemon
Lyle the lemon turned eleven,
Time to celebrate!
He planned a party with his friends
His Mum said, “Just ask eight.”
Who would he ask? How would he choose?
The job was hard, for sure,
He thought he’d ask the apple twins
They’d make a solid core.
Gus Grapes – he was a bunch of fun
And Orange, always bright
Watermelon, kind and sweet
Three more left to invite.
Lyle stopped to think, he scratched his peel
Oh yes! His best friend Lime
They’d play some games and do the twist
And have a brilliant time.
Two left to join Lyle’s fruity crew
Two left to share his day.
Banana, she can do the splits
And shake things up. Hooray!
Mum asks, “How many have you got?”
Lyle counts and says, “just seven.”
“That’s find,” says Mum, “I’ll help you out,”
“You must ask cousin Kevin.”
“Oh yeah, thanks Mum. Well now I’m done.”
He wrote out ‘Kiwi Kevin,’
And that’s who came to celebrate
When Lyle turned eleven.
A bit of a plug for Celia and best wishes from all of us for her event this coming weekend.
The Octopus Riddle
Will I find an octopus
if in a tree I start to seek?
It has no wings, but I’ve been told
it’s got a parrot’s horny beak.
Will I find an octopus
if I should dig within the soil?
It has no legs, but I’ve been told
it’s got eight arms that stretch and coil.
if I look in a flower-bed?
It doesn’t have a skeleton
and has a very squishy head.
Might I find an octopus
if I could swim a lake so still?
It lays its eggs in water but
it has no lungs and breathes with gills.
It’s not a bird, worm, slug or frog.
These animals it never meets.
To find out where it likes to live
it helps to know just what it eats.
An octopus can squeeze in cracks
and use its arms most cleverly
to open salty shellfish … so
its habitat is in the sea
THE GREAT CHOCOLATE HIDE!
Beware my Aunt! I’ve made a sign
To warn off friend and stranger,
“Committed Chocaholic!
Your chockies are IN DANGER!”
Whenever I hear her coming
I hide my chocolate bars,
The Milk Ways and Crumbles,
Snickers, Picnics, and the Mars.
I’ve buried them in casseroles
And bags of brussel sprouts,
But her nose is like a bloodhound’s
She always sniffs them out!
I hid them down the backyard
Amidst the potted flowers.
Ants found them before Aunty,
De-anting took us hours!
I hid them in a secret spot,
The best place I could find.
Trouble is I can’t remember where,
And that I really mind!
Now Aunty’s come to help me
Find out just where they are.
Her payment for detective work?
Of course, a chocolate bar!
S’pose eating chocolate’s better
When you don’t eat it alone.
Chocolate Hunts ARE fun with Aunty
But I wish she’d bring her own!
– J.R.Poulter
A dribble-free fruit
without stones, pips or seeds
whose skin will peel off
with the greatest of ease
revealing a pillar
of creamy-white pulp
which squashes to slime
that’s rewarding to gulp.
Potassium, Calcium
Vitamin C,
no trace of cholesterol,
it’s mostly fat-free.
You have to admit
that it’s simply no drama
to scoff your way through
any Queensland Banana!
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Cyrch a Chwta: a Challenge!
My cat adores nothing more
Than salmon, whiting and flake.
And as for my Labrador,
He demands a juicy steak.
But they will not eat them raw —
I cook them, for heaven’s sake!
My parrot says I’m cuckoo.
What to do? I need a break.
James Aitchison
Cyrch a Chwta (pronounced kirch a choota), is a fun Welsh poetic form which has:
In my poem above, the schematic is:
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xxcxxxb
April Fool
I’m looking for Spring
as so many do
for blossom and bulbs
shy violets hold dew
What greets me is change
Winds, rain and shine
It’s now Autumn here
but there’s no call to pine
There are strawberry guavas,
feijoas and pears
very few flowers
but no one much cares
We’d rather our garden
is brimming with fruit
There’ll be time in October
For Flora’s fair loot!
BALL GAMES
My sister’s in a netball team,
Where she is goal attack.
I prefer my football
I often play full back.
So throughout season,
On Thursday nights we train,
And then head off on Saturday,
To try to win our games.
Australian Children’s Poetry 