Hear Us!
Bang! Crash!
Make a noise
Colour and sound
Hear our voice
It isn’t jazz or rock or swing
It’s the sound of today
That makes us sing.
Guitars! Drums!
Digital sound
Colour and rhythm
We stamp the ground
It isn’t to classics, we have our own beat
It’s the beat of today
That moves our feet.
Cymbals clash!
Today’s new start
Music moves us
Stirs our heart.
It’s the rhythm of life, the beat of today
And it’s the music that yells at us
“Have your say!”
When Music Makes a Sound
The times were tense in Austria,
On the cusp of the war,
When the Nazi’s began their invasion,
Changing times forever more.
Those that loved their country,
Refused to cooperate,
And looked at trying to escape,
Controlling their own fate.
The Von Trapps’ were such a family.
Respected in their town,
Who entered a local pageant,
With a plan that was profound.
Singing as the Trapp Family Singers,
They chose the perfect song,
Allowing them to leave the stage,
Each one by one by one.
They all escaped to a waiting car,
And then to a Nunnery,
Where they waited to escape on foot,
Across the mountains they planned to flee.
But the Nazis tried to foil their plan,
And followed them right there,
But the Nuns’ refused to help,
The Trapps’ presence they wouldn’t share.
And whilst the Nazis’ looked for them,
One Nun disabled their car,
Which prevented them from leaving,
Allowing the Von Trapps’ to flee afar.
As the Von Trapps’ climbed the mountain,
Each in single file,
They sang their songs with gusto,
As they embraced their self-exile.
The rat’s drum
A rat bought a drum,
A very nice drum,
And played it down in the drain.
Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat,
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat.
He played on that drum,
That very nice drum,
Until it started to rain.
Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat,
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat.
The drain filled up fast,
The water surged past,
And washed everything away.
That was the end, that was the end,
That was the end of the rat-a-tat-tat.
Snoopy Spiders
Spiders don’t have any ears.
They don’t have any ear-drums.
And so we thought they couldn’t hear
and only felt their webs strum.
But scientists who’ve scanned their brains
noticed they responded
when squeaky chairs and music strains
from far away were sounded.
Special hairs that wobble when
a soundwave moves the air
means jumping spiders hear quite well
through nerves attached to hairs.
These snoopy spiders listen-in
for buzzing enemies
like deadly wasps that sting and sing
some scary melodies!
Did you ever
tango with a mango
or mince with a quince
peel a lychee by the sea
or kiss a ‘blue’ berry?
Can you really
make rhymes with limes
or mix melons with lemons
blow GIANT raspberries
or get stuck in a strawberry jam?
Did you ever
scare a pear
or grapple with an apple
watch peaches on beaches
or discover plums have bums?
Can you really
tie cumquats with wotnots
feed grapes to apes
put a pawpaw on a seesaw
or be mean to a nectarine?
Did you ever
can-can with a rambutan
see grapefruits in suits
take kiwi’s to Fiji
or wonder why this rhyme began?
Copyright retained by Diane
TEACHER NOTES
Winter in Australia is very variable.
Activity: Watch the weather report for mid winter and compare the weather report that night for Darwin and for Hobart.
List five reasons for the big difference in temperatures.
Activity: How do you know winter has arrived?
List five things that tell you the season has changed.
Activity: What images in the poem suggest to you that the scene depicted in the poem is set in winter?
Wired Barbs
A farmer exhales
warmed, wintry breath –
sights his twisted defence
Snowy River drifts
drift in against single-
Sunlight melts frost
on topmost wires
taut once, now – awry
Like the farmer’s frame
once tight, so straight,
today – it is maligned
Rusty, frosty memories
surface with pain –
undone by morning sun
Crops, stock – surrounded;
fenced by furnace-forged steel
now – long gone cold
Too old to play God
with beast, or crop
Too young to give in.
Australian Children’s Poetry 