There she was my first love.

Sweet like a dove she was as, 

if sent to me from heaven above.

Peanuts, chocolate, brownies and fudge!

Gee what was there not to love? 

(Brian Keith Mino is an American poet)

Christmas bushes red and blooming 
Lilac flowers in the passion-fruit vine 
Cicadas sing in choirs at morning 
Deep green silent Norfolk Pine 
Dragonfly and bee hum 
Paperbark and Ghost Gum 
Eucalyptus Christmas time. 

Cockatoos crown the tree-tops 
The sun is ruler of the high blue sky 
Gecko sleeps in the rocks at noontime 
Spider waits to catch the fly 
Tumbledown verandah 
Purple Jacaranda 
Eucalyptus Christmas time. 

Children splash beneath the sprinkler 
Watermelon laughter in the hot afternoon 
Food and drink on the cool white linen 
Sun waits up to greet the moon 
Festival occasion 
Family celebration 
Eucalyptus Christmas time 
Eucalyptus Christmas time. 
 

At first it was slates
with squeaky slate pencils
and tied-on rags
to wipe them clean
But the rags weren’t clean
Spat on too often
not often washed
they smelt vile

Pencils, lead pencils
came next
neatly whittled flat space
for your name
You turned the handle
on the big metal sharpener
importantly, out the front

Finally advanced to ink
Nibs and inkwells
The wells were sludgy
at the bottom
and at the top
sometimes inserted
by the class clown
the ends of some girl’s plait

If you had been extra good
you got to be the ink monitor
for the week
The majestic progress
to fountain pen
not a minute too soon.