Category Archives: Australian children’s poetry

Mola Coaster by Celia Berrell

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What’s flat like a flapjack
and round like a dish,
has two big strong fins
but no tail? It’s a fish!
This peculiar pelagic
sunbathes each day
and dives like a millstone
to feed on its prey.
Their babies are see-through.
The size of small pips,
they’ve eyes of surprise
and cute kissy lips.
But Sunfish grow up
to weigh over two tonnes.
Devouring sea jellies
is not just for fun!

First published in Double Helix issue #48 (Jun 2021)
Reproduced with permission of CSIRO
www.doublehelix.csiro.au

For more about these amazing sea creatures, follow the links below:
From the Smithsonian magazine Unraveling the Mysteries of the Ocean Sunfish
From Nine News Sunfish: Australian scientists behind discovery about huge yet elusive ocean beast

“The Plastic Pacific” & “Otter Snot” by James Aitchison

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THE PLASTIC PACIFIC

How much plastic is in the sea?

Fifty-one trillion pieces!

Fifty-one trillion ways to kill

all our ocean species.

Choking, snarling, killingwhales, turtles, and fish;

unless we stop dumping toxic trash

our oceans will diminish.

OTTER SNOT

Does 

an otter

have snot

or not?

Whether or not

an otter has 

snot,

I know 

not.

James Aitchison

Ancient Secrets in the Sky by Celia Berrell

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Australia’s first people
shared knowledge that’s verbal
through story and song
both secret and long.
They studied the skies
and became very wise
in using the stars
to travel afar.
Star maps, like diaries
can jog song-line memories,
showing the best ways
we now use as highways.
When driving one day
on the Great Western Highway,
know ancient astronomy’s
part of its history.

“Holiday Rain” & “Critter Jitters” by Graham Seal

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HOLIDAY RAIN
Rain’s back,
down it comes,
and now we’ve all got the glums.
Nothing to do, nothing at all,
just sit around and watch it fall.
Might as well be back at school –
NOT!

CRITTER JITTERS
My critter’s got the jitters
and he jives around like mad.
He’s made of wire, you wind him up
and he kind of makes you glad.
With crazy jerks and twirling twerks
he skitters round and round.
His clockwork heart winds quickly down
and makes a whirring sound.
But just last week I heard a squeak.
and before I even wound him,
my critter jittered out the door
and I never ever found him.

Graham Seal

Fingers in the sky by James Aitchison

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It seems to me 

that I can see

fingers in the sky.

Cloudy fingers,

each one lingers, 

as I’m passing by.

See Salt by James Aitchison

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Have you ever seen salt

far from the sea?

Salt that’s still as salty

as salt can ever be?

It’s salt in far Lake Tyrell,

a salty lake, you see,

and tastes even saltier

than salt does from the sea.

Teacher’s note: Lake Tyrrell is a salt-encrusted depression in Victoria’s Mallee district.

“An Acrostic Weekend” & “Don’t Lose Your Thong in Geelong” by Ronan Redmond (age 8)

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AN ACROSTIC WEEKEND

Footy is always a very fun sport,

On weekends you always have to be a good sport.

On Sunday, I like to call it a fun day!

Tackling is very dangerous,

Your footy teams have all been to the finals once!

DON’T LOSE YOUR THONG IN GEELONG

There was once a man from Geelong,

Who wore out his size-10 thong.

His feet were bare,

But he didn’t care,

He walked all the way to Hong Kong.

Acrostic & Limerick poems by Ronan Redmond

Foster Boxer by Jeanie Axton

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This poem was inspired by a news story I watched, then researched, about a boxer named Treasure, who became a mum to eight little piglets on a farm in Queensland.


Eight cute little piglets
grunting and squealing today
because a boxer named Treasure
came bounding their way


A stray herself
Treasure played her part
taking the eight little piglets
straight into her heart


She rounded them up
with cuddles and licking
her milk came in
with the suckling and kicking


On a farm with eight kids
and eight piglets in tow
Treasure the Boxer
put on a great show


She now has a family
Treasure loves them to bits
a boxer and eight piglets
the perfect farm fit

Born to Drive by Jenny Erlanger

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I tell Mum when to go
and when to stop, at every light.
I tell her she should know
to keep pedestrians in sight.
I say she has to show
she’s turning left or veering right.
I help her with the most important stuff.

Already I’ve begun
to dream of how it’s going to feel
when I become the one
who gets to sit behind the wheel.
I think of all the fun
I’ll have when driving cars for real.
For now, though, back-seat driving is enough.

Outside My Window In Vienna by James Aitchison

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A pair of pants blocks my view,

I can’t see down the street,

there’s fresh new snow upon the waist  

and every icy pleat.

The lederhosen shop next door

makes leather pants like these,

and they hang a pair made of iron

to dangle in the breeze.

(In response to What’s Outside Your Window prompt #2. Teacher’s note: Lederhosen are short or knee-legth leather breeches often worn in German-speaking regions.)