Dacelo novaeguineae
Ho, koo-koo-kaa-kaa,
Kookaburras,
Laughing in your trees;
No jumbuck jollier,
Gladly I’d follow yu’,
Life was meant to please.
Can you whistle?
Oh but this’ll
Do, for laughter’s sweet
And you could,
If you but stood
Your terribly ticklish feet.
Tiring is this
Wing-flap business,
But you need to fly;
For ticklish feet
Sure has you beat,
But what a way to die!
A sleepwalker named Alexander
Left his bed so he could meander.
Eyes closed and snoring,
Arms out before him,
He ended up on the verandah.
But fate had in store a cruel twist
For this poor lonely somnambulist.
The next thing he knew
There was doggy-doo,
And his feet landed right in its midst!
So in future, my friend Alexander,
Take heed of a humble bystander:
Please stay in your bed,
Sheets over your head,
And don’t try to sleep’ly meander.
Butcher Bob from Iron Knob was known throughout the land
for cooking food that tasted good, with produce fresh at hand
Now, Bob he strove to get his stove to turn out something new
He’d not prepare the common fare the common townsfolk knew
From out the back was heard a quack, a gobble and some clucking
a chop or three, then glory be, a mess of feather plucking
It seemed absurd, he stuffed each bird into its larger cousin
and finally, he sang with glee as he shoved it in the oven.
With carving knife, he and his wife had settled down to tuck in
to Sunday treat, this three-way meat, he invented roast turducken
‘Next week, my dear, my next idea…the roast I will be making…
roast beef, pig too, and kangaroo…my kanga-beefy-bacon.’
Bear
big black
bear be brave
because being beary blue
becomes
beary big
bounce your blues
back beyond Burke
big black
beautiful
bear
bounce brightly back
bubblegum
blowing bubbles
big bubblegum bubble
biggest bubble bursting – BANG!
boo-hoo boo-hoo boo-hoo boo-hoo boo-hoo
I am 72 today,
Yesterday
In Grade Two
The Hobyahs came to stay.
They came through the gloomy gullies
Creep, creep, creeping.
They came through the grey gum-trees
Run, run, running.
They came into my dreams
Skip, skip, skipping.
The Little Old Man
Cut off Little Dog Dingo’s tail
And Little Dog Dingo’s legs
And Little Dog Dingo’s head
To stop Little Dog Dingo barking.
To frighten the Hobyahs away
The Little Old Man
Hid under the bed
When the Hobyahs took
The Little Old Woman away.
The Little Old Man
Was very sorry.
He took Dingo’s tail and his legs and his head
And gave them back to Little Dog Dingo.
Little Dog Dingo saved the Little Old Woman
Little Dog Dingo ate up every one of the Hobyah’s
I am not so sure
There are no Hobyahs now
Even now
Now I am 72.
See for yourself.
Today.
http://pclib.github.io/safari/english/australian-literature-readers/Text/part0058.html
Bubbles
Bursting Beautifully
Beyond Blue Bays
Blown By Balmy Breezes
Is it a bee without a buzz?
It could be a bee with all that fuzz.
But then its wings stick-out too far
and all six legs have got no hair.
You want to know the reason why?
Because it is a bee-sized fly!
They seem to wear their bee-costumes
and pollinate the same bee-blooms.
Their females are a bee’s worst pest
and lay their eggs in real-bee nests.
To be a bee-fly small or large
it helps to be bee-camouflaged.
Celia said: This poem isn’t about bees. Honest!
Bombyliidae (Bee Flies)
Bee flies are large, fat, and hairy, often with a long, rigid proboscis. They are excellent mimics of bees, and may have black and yellow stripes along the abdomen. The adults are avid seekers of nectar from various flowers, although a few species feed on pollen. They are important pollinators, and can reach the nectaries of many wildflowers that are inaccessible to other flies. Their larvae are brood parasites on various species of bees and wasps.
I have a cat and she lives inside;
Inside the house, where she grows quite fat.
BUT often that fat cat wants to go outside;
Outside the house to hunt for a rat.
Inside, outside, inside, outside –
Cat at the window goes meow, meow, meow.
Inside, outside, inside, outside;
Make up your mind, cat, right away, NOW!
I have a dog and he lives outside;
Outside the house where he stays on guard.
BUT often that guard dog wants to come inside,
Inside the house and away from his yard.
Inside, outside, inside, outside –
Dog at the door going howl, howl, howl.
Inside, outside, inside, outside;
Make up your mind, dog, right away, NOW!
I found a box
I saw ‘inside’
though what’s inside
I could not see.
Without a doubt
it’s inside out –
outside ‘inside’
just stares at me.
Perhaps ‘inside’
should be inside,
and ‘outside’ shown
externally
But no, ‘inside’
was outside wrote –
What’s ‘writ’ inside
perplexes me.
Australian Children’s Poetry 