Why do kangaroos cross the road?
To get to the other side!
But ’roos don’t know their highway code
and some of them have died.
When travelling through Aussie bush,
best keep your eyes peeled wide.
Watch for signs and please don’t rush –
especially ’round dawn and dusk –
as that’s the time when ’roos might hide
along a lonely roadside.
Roo Road Rules by Celia Berrell
Artwork: THONGS CROCS AND FLIPFLOPS by Ella Rousseau
They left this land to go to war.
Our treasured young women and men.
With fear and doubt within their hearts
of whether they’d return again.
And those of us who stay behind
look anxiously beyond that day
with hope and love for their return.
In spirit, we will light their way.
Lighting the Way by Celia Berrell
Painting: LIGHTING THE WAY by Sharon Davson
Like ballerinas on blue ice
those skaters glide and pirouette
in perfect dance and balance – yet
to know skate’s science would be nice.
Don’t blunder with confusions such
as “ice melts under pressure”.
We’ve found a better measure
which explains why skaters slide so much.
From nought to minus two-hundred (°C)
a Quasi-Liquid Layer is found
on any water-ice around.
The thinnest, smoothest, slippery-spread!
Friction makes our fingers grip.
We’ll hold a biscuit with control
while ice-cubes fumble, drop and roll
because of crazy quasi-slip.
Crazy Quasi-Liquid Layer by Celia Berrell
Image from Pixabay
March 21st was declared World Poetry Day by UNESCO in 1999. It celebrates the power of words. Connecting our kaleidoscope of languages and cultures throughout history, how will you participate? What might you do, think or read to commemorate this day of diverse verse?
Counting the syllables in each line of a poem is a great exercise for finding and feeling its rhythm and pattern. Remember, rhyming is only one of many ways that can make writing poetic.
This MID-MONTH PROMPT calls for a NONET on any topic of your choosing. This nine-line poem begins with 9 syllables in the first line, finishing with 1 on the last line … or it could be the other way round, starting with 1 syllable and ending with 9.
We’d love to receive your examples!
Do children’s calls
and laughs get past
this giant plate
of strengthened glass?
Do fish hear words
or muffled hums
inside this
grand aquarium?
Aquarium Query by Celia Berrell
Inspired by March Picture Prompt
AQUARIUM by Kaushani Mufti
Dynamic birds in black and white
with flapping wings zoom by.
Darting, diving, chasing prey …
can penguins really fly?
Their thin small wings are more like fins.
Their bodies, large and plump
have webby toes and stubby legs.
Poor penguins barely jump!
Their sturdy bones can help them dive.
Their plumpness keeps them warm.
Eight hundred times as dense as air
the seas are where they roam.
Penguins can’t fly in the sky
but fly in oceans blue.
Darting, diving, chasing prey …
so, do the fish fly too?
Aqua Dynamics by Celia Berrell
First published in Science Rhymes in the Sea
Celebrating SEA WEEK!
Image from Pixabay
There’s motion in the ocean
where these little boats just bob afloat.
Their sailors rarely see us
as they venture most along the coast.
But down, below those choppy seas
and sloppy waves that slap that hull,
you’ll find us playing happily.
Our vibrant lives are rarely dull.
Always active,
never still.
See Sea’s Secrecy by Celia Berrell
Artwork: YOU ARE HERE by Hayley Gillespie
I had a dream the other night.
At first, it gave me quite a fright.
I thought the Moon was falling, ’til
it landed on my windowsill.
She fluffed her fur and shook her head
then gracefully leapt onto my bed
It’s not the Moon, it’s not a spider.
Instead, a silver Greater Glider!
At 12pm, the midnight hour,
a clock struck twelve. A sense of power
shimmered through her moonshine coat,
as she began to grow and float.
“Climb aboard”, she said with pride
and took me on a midnight ride.
Swooping through the starry night,
two new-found friends in sheer delight.
from the painting TIME TO GROW by Sharon Davson
Australian Children’s Poetry 