The liquid metal mercury
has got a sordid history.
In Georgian times they put it in
their tonics as a medicine.
But since it’s toxic to nerve cells
it causes nasty dizzy spells
loss of sight and hearing ills.
Too much and then this poison kills!
Its common name is quicksilver.
A shining river, moving mirror
found in old thermometers
tooth-fillings and barometers.
But back in Eighteenth Century
the rich and poor thought mercury
would have a magic healing trick.
Instead it made them very sick!
The air was alpine fresh and the lake surface glistening
Bird song trilled for those who were listening
What a great afternoon, thought Glenn feeling chipper
A perfect time to start up his new whipper snipper
It purred smoothly in his experienced hands
Trimmed edges effortlessly at the most gentle command
But while promenading proudly around his neat lawn
Glenn spied a dog poo and he wanted it gone
It looked dry as dust so he thought he’d attack
With his fearless whipper snipper, just give it a smack
And it would harmlessly splinter and shatter
But it was still moist so it splished and splattered
It splattered with power, it splattered with grace
It splattered all over Glenn’s spluttering face
Flew up his nostrils, did not want to be wasted
Left him a flavour the worst he’d ever tasted
It splattered his T-shirt, it splattered his jeans
It was very much a poo splishing, splattering scene
Poor Glenn hastily switched off the power
And raced indoors for an emergency shower
Alessandra Liverani
At last we’re going to get a dog,
a loving family pet
but, sadly, we all disagree
on just which dog to get.
Mum who loves her garden beds,
who weeds in them for hours
demands a breed that’s guaranteed
to stay away from flowers.
Liz would like a Pekinese
to put up on her lap
but Mum believes that dogs like these
will only bite and yap.
Dad is sure a boxer dog
would guard the house from robbers
but Liz and I would rather die
than have a dog that slobbers
And I would like a Doberman
but Liz says they’re too scary.
She’s still saying Please, a Pekinese
but I say they’re too hairy.
The more we talk, the more I think
we’ll never get this pet.
The dog we need must be a breed
that hasn’t surfaced yet.
Hoo hoo hoo, and he haw hay
laughed the Kooka on his way.
After him the Magpies chased
winging past in reckless haste.
What was it that the Kooka heard
to cause the Magpies get so stirred?
An ornithologist rushed to meet
a Magpie walking on two sore feet.
‘I’m scared to fly,’ the Magpie wailed
‘They laughed at me because I failed.’
He then limped on, a bird unique,
an unhappy agoraphobic freak.
oooOooo
Once I was a little kid
just like you.
I had to write a poem
but didn’t know what to do
I sat at a desk
with a well full of ink
I dipped a pen in
and wrote what I think
was my best
But my best needed work
so I sat down to think;
scratched out some words
with my pen and ink
Another word didn’t sound
all that good
so I crossed it right out
and put one that would
I did this a few times
then read words aloud
and played with the rhythms
and played with the sound
I’d written a poem
that made sense when read
that rhymed pretty well
and it came from my head
I’m a grown-up now,
and I’ve written lots,
but some words I write
don’t quite fit the box
Still I rewrite the verse
or the phrase or whole poem
It’s what writers do
before they get known.
There’s nothing wrong
with not getting it right,
just as long as you make sure
to sit down and write.
I call him the swanning cat
Cos he swans around, in and then stares at the door
Always on the wrong side
Lost in contemplation
Lingering on the brink
He’s a ginger pain
Itching to keep me awake
Most certainly knows my bedtime
Teases me by implication
Has to go out…just for a pee
Eager to return
Swanning back in
When I yell for him
After waiting awake for far too long
Now, I ask you, is that nice?
No!
In and out and forth and back, and mew and stare at the door
Notwithstanding whisker-wipes and such
Great. He’s a swanning
Cat
Action must be
Taken if I’m ever to get any sleep.
Like microscopic armies
battling germy foes
a microbe war is raging
inside our snotty nose.
Staphylococcus aureus
can make us very ill.
Resistant to most medicines
it’s difficult to kill.
But scientists who study snot
have seen these bad germs die
when a different bacteria
is plentiful nearby.
They plan to use this winning germ
to make antibiotics.
Such science research might be called
exotic snot biotics!
I have a fish in my room made of metal,
(the fish, that is, not my room). The fish is
green and bold, with a mouth shaped like a kettle.
Why not a flower with a nice rosy petal?
I’m a Pisces; my fish is auspicious.
I’m sitting in the shade of the mango tree.
It’s a white-hot day but it doesn’t bother me
’cause it’s cool in the shade of the mango tree
eating mango.
The round ripe fruits of the mango tree
glow like sunsets all around me
and a warm rich perfume dizzies me
from the mango.
So there isn’t any place I’d rather be
than the dark green shade of the mango tree
with golden mangoes tempting me
on the mango.
Australian Children’s Poetry 