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

Wormy Work

Earthworms don’t have bony bits

and so they’re called invertebrates.

There’s billions living in the soil

that burrow, stretch, contract and coil.

Creating holes within soil’s layer

can mix it up and add some air

which helps break-down organic waste

and drain the rain in record haste.

Organic matter, we conclude

provides the worms with all their food.

Consuming soil is what they do.

Excreting lots of earthworm poo.

These squiggly clumps of mud have passed

through worm’s insides.  They’re called a cast.

Those casts make soil a better place

so plants grow at a faster pace.

Without the worms, the soil would not

stay very clean and start to rot.

The earthworms all have key careers

as eco-system engineers.

Celia Berrell

Baggy Pants  

(an environmental baddy)

Flapping in a sunny breeze

while snagged upon some road-side trees

those plastic carry-bags can trick us

looking like some witches knickers.

Light and strong they fly away

like parachutes on windy days

to reach the sea and float as if

they’re some weird kind of jellyfish.

They’re made from poly-ethylene.

Environmentally NOT green!

Their hydrogen and carbon chains

aren’t broken down by sun or rains.

Thin and tough they bend and flop.

Ideal for using when we shop.

But eco-systems do not share

our love for witches underwear!

A Funny Exercise

An exercise helps keep us fit.

We all agree on that.

It gets your heart a-pumping so

your body won’t go flat.

A heart-beat circulates the blood

to all our living cells.

Transporting food and oxygen

to keep us fit and well.

Doing lots of exercise

can make our heart beat fast.

Strengthening the muscles so

our body’s built to last.

Now laughing can be exercise.

A work-out for the lungs.

Releasing lots of tension if

we’re feeling highly strung.

It elevates our pulse rate

and it’s also lots of fun.

One hundred big laughs every day

will be my aim now-on.

It massages the abdomen.

It shakes those shoulders free.

A perfect form of exercise …

Ho-Ho   Ha-Ha   He-He!

morning mist

beads drowsy damsel

in condensation

noontide sun

shrinks water splash through

evaporation

The Bilby’s cute-long

bunny ears

remind us Easter’s

almost here.

These experts

burrow in the ground

where grubs and roots

for food are found.

Their dainty

pinkly pointy snouts

are perfect probes

to sniff things out.

With squeaky snuffles

snorts and grunts,

they’d help us with those

Choc-Egg hunts!

Bilby Nose by Celia Berrell

Please check out this article:

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017/04/10-reasons-australians-should-celebrate-bilbies-not-bunnies-this-easter/

Celia Berrell