Welcome!
Welcome
Little children,
To this vast, brown land.
Come and share the beauty
We’ve come to understand.
There are no boarder fences here,
Only the sea surrounds.
The air is fresh.
The sky is clear.
No bombs or rubble mounds.
You are not alone
In coming from afar.
Many of us, too
Have sought this
Southern Star.
Come join us,
Little children!
Come, play in the sun.
Welcome
Little children,
For we are all as one!
Paper boats conjure dreams
of petals soaked by
scents of the
ocean.
Traveling boats
float in shadows
people
who have a simple hope
for happy lands,
but white markers sink
in sandy earth
marking graves of people
who cannot resist new germs.
‘Once watched paper boats,’
paternal grandfather says
in Vietnamese
but nobody understands
No translators here.
So shadow puppets dance
for petals
falling from kumquat boughs.
(c) June Perkins
https://ripplepoetry.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/paperboat.jpg
Creative Commons Flickr Geson Ratnow
Slurpie the dog
Loves his smoothies
His tongue goes wild
His lips are groovy
He guzzles and gulps
Drinking real fast
This isn’t a drink
That was made to last
Green for goodness
Sugar for pop
No spilling here
Not one drop
Slurping and licking
Black eyes bright
Slurpie the dog
Filled with delight
The Snooze
When Dad’s at the seashore,
This bit he likes best:
After all the swimming,
Take a well-earned rest.
Once lunch is completed,
This is what he’ll choose:
Lying on his towel,
He will have a snooze.
Soaking up the sunshine,
Lying on the beach,
Seeking for a suntan,
Drink within his reach
How long he will lie there
None of us can guess.
Asked if he’s still snoozing
He just mumbles:”Yes”.
We return to swimming,
Wait for him to come,
When it doesn’t happen,
We send back our Mum.
Suddenly Mum wakes him:
“Dave, you’re getting hot!
You look like a lobster,
Lifted from the pot!”
Monty Edwards
Monty says: “I considered calling the poem “Redback!”, but in order not to confuse, chose “The Snooze”. Although the poem ends as above, one or both the following verses may be added for didactic purposes.”
Dad forgot to sunscreen:
Didn’t slip, slop, slap;
Left his head uncovered:
Didn’t wear his cap.
Now his back is blistered,
Face is sore and red,
He will struggle sleeping
Even in his bed.
We all learnt a lesson
On the beach that day,
Sunshine is a blessing
When you want to play,
But the sun can hurt you,
If you don’t take care
Best to have protection
With you everywhere.
Let’s Pretend
I am so popular, I’m so in
I always have the next best thing!
You can see how good I am, it’s up to me
How in with the it-crowd you will be.
Always sure and what’s more, not scared one bit
For I know, I am a wonder, a big hit!
Never failing, never losing and never unsure
Do you believe me? Okay, I’ll stop now and lie no more.
Alone – taken from Green Striped Hoodie sample thumbnails by Johanna Roberts
Body Chemistry
Our bodies perform
lots of chemistry tricks
to break down our food
into useable bits.
We also have microbes
inside us to aid
with eating the chemistry
soups we have made.
These frothy reactions
will bubble and pass
some carbon dioxide
and nitrogen gas
which tries to get out
of our digestive parts
by causing our bodies
to make lots of farts.
Those microbes make
hydrogen sulphide as well.
A gas we all know
by its terrible smell.
It’s not what we’ve eaten
or what we might drink
but mostly those microbes
that make our farts stink!
first published in Scientriffic #71 January 2011
I know I didn’t mention it before,
But, I needed to be certain,
That you would be my friend,
If I were not a royal.
I normally don’t wear,
For I hate when people glare,
My tiara or my fancy dress;
I like to play and make a mess.
I never make a royal decree.
I like to be with common folk.
Excuse me but did you just croak?
You see I am a princess
And I notice you’re a frog.
Perhaps if I just kiss you once,
You’ll hop off that old log.
You’ll become a prince – that’s fair.
You and I will be a pair.
And when we’re old enough to marry,
We’ll still pretend we’re ordinary.
By Louise McCarthy
Let’s Pretend!
My home is a castle
Tall and grand
Set high on a hill
In a faraway land,
Where clouds are pink and
Horses stand
Guarding me
And my fairy band.
We play together
Till break of day,
Dance with the pixies
Then flutter away
On wings as light as snowflakes.
In the meadows and glades
With flowers fair;
Our playground dwells
Beyond compare,
Where daisy chains
I weave with care
And place them daintily
In my hair.
Here, each happy day
Is clear and bright,
Filled with magic
And delight!
Bubble, bubble, boil and trouble
Fill my cauldron on the double
With slime of frog and pooh of bear
And Daddy’s oldest underwear
With fish’s scales, mermaid’s nails,
Dragon’s breath and lizard’s tails
Tear of tiger, eye of slug
A squirt from the bum of a citrus bug
Look out! Daddy’s had a hunch
About what he just downed for lunch.
Bubble, trouble, had some fun,
Drop the cauldron, run, run, run!
Jessica Nelson-Tyers
Australian Children’s Poetry 
