Category Archives: Poem of the Day

I Will Be Brave by Jessica Nelson

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I Will Be Brave

 

I will go into the three bears’ house

I won’t be frightened like a mouse.

I will eat porridge from a spoon

I won’t fear that they’ll be home soon.

I will sit in this tiny chair

Just to show that I don’t care.

I won’t be scared and I won’t run—

But listen, look out, here they come.

I will perhaps have some concern,

The porridge has made my tummy turn.

I hear a stamping at the door,

I hear great footsteps on the floor.

I won’t dawdle, I need to hide!

Look, a bed, I’ll jump inside.

Flatten myself under the blanky

Hope the bears aren’t feeling cranky.

I will be quiet, I won’t shift

I will not toot or I’ll be sniffed.

I will sneeze, I just can’t stop it!

They’ve heard me now, I’d better hop it

Papa Bear, Mama Bear and little Wee

Have no porridge and might eat me!

I’ll quit this window (second floor)

I won’t come back here anymore.

Jessica Nelson

Roaming Through the Ruins by Walter de Jong

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I’ve been roaming through the ruins

Finding the foundations

Sifting through the centuries;

The nativity of nations

 

A pantheon of the powerful

Creating colosseums

Stones torn from a temple

The remnants of religion

 

Even obelisks from Egypt

Claimed from Cleopatra

by Romulus and Remus

Are repurposed by St Peter

 

I’ve been roaming through the ruins

of Mankind and his motions

Sifting through the centuries;

The nativity of notions

Walter de Jong

 

 

Walter said: When I was in Rome I was struck by the juxtaposition of elements from ancient to modern times that could be seen and the evidence and influence of shifting political and religious tides through time; Egyptian, Greek, Jewish and Christian side by side, layer on layer in the exposed strata.

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

Katherine Gallagher

 

Moving Marvel by Teena Raffa-Mulligan

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Moving Marvel

I can

Banana bend

Licorice twist

Jelly wibble wobble.

 

See me

Caterpillar creep

Snake slither

Deer dash and dart.

 

I am

Rock steady

Tree tall

River rush and flow.

 

Love this

Body mine

Body strong

This moving marvel.

 Teena Raffa-Mulligan

First Published in Blast Off July 2005

Pickled Peppers by Jenny Erlanger

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Pickled Peppers

 

Polly Packer picked a pile of pickled peppers

outweighing the paltry peck that Peter chose.

Poor Peter Piper’s paused his pepper picking

and all he picks at present is his nose.

Jenny Erlanger

Jenny said: The prompt word, “pickle” reminded me of the famous old tongue-twister involving Peter Piper and his pickled peppers.   The challenge was to find enough new words starting with “p” to retain a tongue-twister character.

 

What a Pickle by Melanie Hill

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What a Pickle

Peter Peckle…

Peter Piper picked a peckle…

If Peter pickled peppers picked…

I’m in a pickle that Peter Piper picked
and I can’t un-pickle this peckled pipple.
And why would Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers
when pickled peppers are so repulsive?

Melanie Hill

Melanie said: My family were having some fun with tongue twisters just before this writing prompt came out. After the kids were feeling frustrated with all the mistakes they were making, they came to the conclusion that pickled peppers would be disgusting, and this justified not being able to recite Peter Piper.

Riddle by Katherine Gallagher

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What goes up

and never down?

 

When you’re born,

you count me in

race me on,

only occasionally forget me.

 

When you’re old,

I’m still growing.

 

What am I?

Answer:

upsidedown

 

Katherine Gallagher

 

Help! by Glenys Eskdale

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HELP!

 

Balanced on the end of a twig,

raging river below,

tree canopy above,

can’t climb back,

mustn’t fall down.

 

halfway between:

earth and sky,

falling and stuck,

alive and dead.

 

need nerves of steel,

a sharp brain,

monkey muscles.

 

this boy buccaneer

should have eaten

that basin of spinach,

broccoli and seaweed,

 

or he should never

have followed

his fog-brained idea

to climb this tree

in the first place.

 

Glenys Eskdale

 

 

 

The Mystery Box by Monty Edwards

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The Mystery Box

 

My lunch for school’s a mystery box and here’s the reason why:

I cannot guess just what’s inside, however hard I try.

There’s something different every day: Mum treats it as a game.

The only thing I’m sure about: no day will be the same.

 

If Monday’s roll has Vegemite, then Tuesday’s might have jam.

A sandwich made for Wednesday’s lunch might well be beef or ham.

On Thursday then, a salad wrap could be the big surprise,

But one school lunch on Friday something shocking met my eyes:

 

My mystery box was oozing with a greenish-yellow trickle!

There must have been a mix-up with Dad’s favourite: cheese and pickle!

While Dad enjoyed my peanut paste spread on his bread with honey,

My sandwich had an awful taste. Don’t laugh. It wasn’t funny!

 

Monty Edwards

Monty says: I didn’t like pickle at all as a child and would have been horrified to find it in my school lunch.

Rocky the Cocky by Vanessa Proctor

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Rocky the Cocky

 

I admire you,

I really do.

But do you think

my head was made

as a perch

for a cockatoo?

Vanessa Proctor

 

Published in The Caterpillar, Issue 11 Winter 2015