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Competitions

I hope you’re all thinking about your entries for the 12th Kathleen Julia Bates Memorial Writing Competition (Children’s Poetry). For Australian writers only, this competition is for a poem suitable for a child up to the age of 12 years. Maximum length 30 lines. Open theme. First prize: $150. Closing date June 30. Full details here.

Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards
Closing date 30 June

The annual poetry competition for school-aged children is now open. Optional theme is ‘the open door’. Individual fee of $15 or $25 for schools (up to 30 entries) or $50 (over 30 entries). For more information, click here.

2015 Toolangi CJ Dennis Poetry Competition

Closing date 7 September

The aim of the competition is to encourage the activity of writing which celebrates the work of CJ Dennis and relates to Australia’s history, activities, environment and personalities. There are various categories, including one for a poem written by an adult for children. For full details and an entry form, click here.

Poems wanted

Please keep submissions of poetry coming in for the Poem of the Day. Your submissions are much appreciated and I’m enjoying them immensely. If you’re a poet who is still thinking about whether to submit, please do! Poems are always needed and get posted so long as they are suitable for children (including teenagers). Previously published poems can be submitted provided you still retain copyright. Email traffa-m@bigpond.net.au

Articles, events, information and interviews

ACP is also happy to accept information about children’s poetry activities and events in Australia and overseas, poetry links, competitions, interviews with poets or publishers, and relevant articles.

Looking for poetry markets?

The Poetry Library is the website for The Saison Poetry Library, the most comprehensive and accessible collection of poetry from 1912 in Britain. Along with a wealth of interesting information for poets, there is also a list of UK publishers who publish poetry for children. Click here.

Poem of the Day

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Did you now?

by Neridah McMullin

 

Thought I might stay

Home today.

Safe.

Secure.

Did you now?

 

Thought I might

Miss you,

too

Much.

Did you now?

 

Thought maybe

Cos’ you’re smart,

You could

Homeschool me?

Did you now?

 

The house needs

A vacuum.

Doggy doo to

Be picked up,

So much work.

Didn’t you know?

 

Thought I might,

But now…

I think

I miss my friends.

I’ll go get ready.

You go do that now.

 

 

Poem of the Day

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Party at Luna Park

by Jenny Erlanger

 

The party was great.

I’ve got so much to tell

but I can’t do it now,

I’m not feeling too well.

I don’t want to chuck

but I know that I will.

Is it something I ate

that is making me ill?

The frankfurts and sauce

can’t have made me feel bad.

The ten that I ate

were the best that I’ve had.

And it wasn’t the chips

that I had as a snack

as we all raced around

on the dodgem car track.

It might have been what

I was drinking instead,

that bottle of stuff

that was fizzy and red

that I drank when my mouth

was all dried up inside

after screaming so much

on the Gravitron ride.

Or could it have been

what I had as a treat,

something I’ve wanted

forever to eat,

that mountain of fairy floss

stuck to a stick?

Quick, pass me the bucket,

I’m going to be sick.

First published in “Giggles and Niggles” (Haddington Press, 2007)

Poem of the Day

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Silverfish

by Helen Hagemann

Not as lucky as a Las Vegas dollar
nor as silver,
but if you look inside panelled rooms
there may be several silverfish
touring endlessly in the house of a miser
or in one of those 19th century cottages
where the rain soaks North Somerset,
bookshelves covered in trench coats.

You know that silverfish chew into glue,
plaster, paint, photos, sugar, coffee,
hair, carpet, clothing, dandruff,
book bindings and paper (and that’s
a lot to get through in a week!)

Imagine one slippery silverfish
in a musty library of a French poet
travelling through paragraphs of Reverdy,
John Donne, Simone De Beauvoir or Sartre,
his hunger moving toward simile and speech,
words curling into little white ropes
and lifting from the page,
one letter at a time.

 

 

 

Poem of the Day

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Watching ants

By Myra King

 

Giants are we that see

those little mites

of black and legs

following their tales

of trails

carrying to nest

their loads at least

the weight of three

but a mere grain

to you and me

 

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12th Kathleen Julia Bates Memorial Writing Competition (Children’s Poetry)

For Australian writers only, this competition is for a poem suitable for a child up to the age of 12 years. Maximum length 30 lines. Open theme. Poems that have previously won a competition are ineligible.

All entries are to have a separate title page with full contact details including email address for results. Entrants will also receive a score sheet and other feedback.

Entry fee is $10 per poem. Payment is by direct deposit to BSB 633-000 Account Number 140152760. Please use the format (your surname)_poetry when making your deposit so payment can be easily matched with submissions.

Prizes are $150 first prize, $100 for second prize and $50 for third prize plus certificates for winners and short-listed entries. Entries must be received on or before 15 August.

Results will be announced on the Australian Children’s Poetry blog site (www.australianchildrenspoetry.com) and in Buzz Words (All the Buzz about Children’s Books).

Email entries to Teena Raffa-Mulligan at traffa-m(at)bigpond.net.au

 

 

 

News Update

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Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards
Closing date 30 June

The annual poetry competition for school-aged children is now open. Optional theme is ‘the open door’. Individual fee of $15 or $25 for schools (up to 30 entries) or $50 (over 30 entries).

For more information, click here.

Poem of the Day

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing poetry for publication on this blog. Your submissions are much appreciated and I’m enjoying them immensely. Please keep them coming. If you’re a poet who is still thinking about whether to submit, please do! Poems are always needed and get posted so long as they are suitable for children (including teenagers). Previously published poems can be submitted provided you still retain copyright. Email traffa-m@bigpond.net.au

Articles, events, information and interviews

ACP is also happy to accept information about children’s poetry activities and events in Australia and overseas, poetry links, competitions, interviews with poets or publishers, and relevant articles.

Poetry books

English poet Roger McGough has criticised the lack of poetry books for children following the short-list announcement of books in the 2015 Children’s Poetry Award in the UK. You can read his comments here: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32451011 and take note of the short-listed books here: https://www.clpe.org.uk/page/67

Sites to visit

Poets’ Garage is a supportive community of people who write verse for children. Poets’ Garage members write (and critique) everything from haiku to rhyming picture books.

The Garage motto is: We crit hard; we crit with love; we crit as a team! Through constructive critiques, Garage members are dedicated to helping each other improve technique, become more confident and capable writers, discuss and share information, and get published. https://poetsgarage.wordpress.com/

Poetry Friday is a weekly blogging event in which poets, writers, readers, and lovers of children’s poetry share blog posts about poetry. http://www.nowaterriver.com/what-is-poetry-friday/

Poem of the Day

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Questions about Wasps

by Helen Hagemann

Each morning, a wasp starts out as a lone traveller
heading into the garden, its hind legs dangling and
trailing in the wind. These moments are an eloquent

gesture of nature, the wasp on a journey into nectar,
jazzing up noisy wings, talkative as the bumble bee
already in the Fuchsia. There are many questions you

might want to ask, yet the only one you do know is
that wasps sting, especially late summer if you have
a fly swat or rolled newspaper in your hand.

Yet you’re curious about this eager garden traveller, like
a fly-in miner, flying out. Is he copying the tiger with
all those stripes on his back? Is he the bee’s rival, as he

hovers in mimicry? Is it to camouflage pincers in wax flowers
or to fool the bumble bee into thinking he is one of him?
And why does this busy wasp follow from petal to stamen

and stamen again, and not the other way around? What about
his paper-mache home, is that in the roof? Is he building
a colony of one hundred wasps, damaging the beams?

You guess that wasps are designed to make you think. So,
wondering about that loud buzzing noise as he backs out of
a bud, is he imitating the operatic bee who comes out singing?

Poem of the Day

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House of germs

by Jenny Erlanger

 

Dad’s got a fever, he’s dripping with sweat.

Mum’s got a virus, the worst you can get.

Buster keeps coughing, we’re calling the vet.

And I’m stuck in the house for the day!

 

My brother’s come down with the nastiest flu,

my sister’s been chucking for hours in the loo.

the cat has been constantly vomiting too.

Could you please come around for a play?

 This poem was originally published in “Giggles and Niggles” (Haddington Press, 2007)

Dinner Venue by Jenny Erlanger

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 We’re sitting on a picnic rug

beside our lemon tree.

We pass around the water jug

then start to eat our tea.

I’m staring at a Brussels sprout

with mounting discontent

When I suggested eating out

this wasn’t what I meant!