Rocky the Cocky
I admire you,
I really do.
But do you think
my head was made
as a perch
for a cockatoo?
Vanessa Proctor
Published in The Caterpillar, Issue 11 Winter 2015
Tag Archives: fun poems for children
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentThe picnic
Help! I’m in a pickle.
The pickle’s in a jar;
The jar is in a hamper
On the back seat of a car.
We’re going to a picnic
I don’t know what to do:
When they eat the pickles up,
I’ll be eaten, too.
This is a disaster.
They think it’s just a lark
To hear birds sing and nibble things
Down at the local park.
I’m really in a pickle;
I must get a message through.
If I can’t send this call for help,
I’ll be chomped in two!
Jessica Nelson
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #32
Jessica said: I usually write poems in two stages. I’ll have an initial blaze of inspiration, during which most of the writing happens. Then I’ll let the writing stew over the following days (or weeks), making small changes until it feels right.Poem of the Day
Leave a commentMr Pickle’s Pet Shop
At Mr Pickle’s pet shop the choice is quite extensive.
It’s mystical and magical and not at all expensive.
Meet hairy dogs and scary dogs and one that yawns and yawns.
And playing in a nearby cage meet baby unicorns.
Meet fluffy cats and scruffy cats and one that’s always smiling.
Descended from a Cheshire cat, she really is beguiling.
At Mr Pickle’s pet shop the choice is quite extensive.
It’s wacky, weird and wonderful and not at all expensive.
Sitting in a large top hat, magicians’ rabbits wait.
One elegant white rabbit keeps insisting that he’s late.
Meet brown rats, black rats and some you can’t approach.
One claims a distant relative pulled Cinderella’s coach.
At Mr Pickle’s pet shop the choice is quite extensive.
It’s awesome and amazing and it’s not at all expensive.
Meet scowling owls and sleeping owls perched in a plastic tree.
There’s one that winks at pussy cats. He’d like to go to sea.
Meet blind mice, Miami mice and mice who have no tails.
They run and squeak, play hide and seek and terrify the quails.
At Mr Pickle’s pet shop the choice is quite extensive.
It’s curious, chaotic and it’s not at all expensive.
Meet rare, red romping dragons. No one’s quite sure of their ages.
But Mr Pickle says they MUST be kept in fireproof cages.
Meet fruit bats, cute bats, a vampire bat called Guzzle.
And just in case he misbehaves, he has to wear a muzzle.
At Mr Pickle’s pet shop the choice is quite extensive.
It’s bold, bizarre and beautiful and not at all expensive.
Meet frogs who change to princes if they receive a kiss.
Meet friendly bugs who give you hugs and snakes who simply hiss.
If you deserve a special pet to tell your troubles to,
Please visit Mr Pickle’s shop and tell him I sent you.
At Mr Pickle’s pet shop the choice is quite extensive.
It’s fabulous and fanciful and not at all expensive.
Pat Simmons
First published by Thynks Publications in their anthology 50 Funny Poems for Children.
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #32
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentPoint to point
I got in a pickle the other day.
It was olive green
and bumpy skinned
and smelled quite strong
but I went along for the ride
even though it was damp and drippy inside
just so I could wink and say
I got in a pickle the other day.
Penny Szentkuti
Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #32
Penny said: This was a train of thought poem – see how I did that? – and I can’t quite get off the track now that I’ve got that image of riding in a pickle. I must have been influenced too by the heavy advertising at the moment about point to point transport.
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentBalancing broccoli in a basin
Bought by a beneficent buccaneer
bunches of broccoli
bound through the air
into a basin of boiling water.
They balanced the content of Vitamin B
in the body of the buccaneer’s
burgeoning daughter.
Alix Phelan ©, 2016
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #29
Alix said: I thought this was a bit of a challenge. At first look, the four “b” words had nothing in common. I decided to look up what vitamins are associated with broccoli, and discovered that Vitamin B was one. Very convenient.Apart from being convenient with regard to the poem, as far as I understand, Vitamin B helps nerve cells and DNA to grow, and so, it was quite appropriate to use with “burgeoning daughter”.
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentDeath on the high seas
Dastardly –that’s me. Buccaneerfrom my headto peg legCutlass poised, victim green withfear of what will comeTime balancedon a honed knife edgedescendinglike rain toa basin. Your end is nighbroccoli, hold still
Nadine Cranenburgh
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #29
Nadine said: I had a go at today’s prompt and used it to try out a new form of poem – a shardorma – which has six lines in each verse with the syllable pattern 3/5/3/3/7/5. Then I scribbled down ideas in this pattern until I had something that made sense… I had a sense of victim and murderous buccaneer and went from there.
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentBuccaneer Tucker
A basin of broccoli served up for tea
Is not what a young buccaneer wants to see.
His diet should be balanced when pillaging ships,
But he’d much prefer ice cream and lots of hot chips.
Pat Simmons
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #29
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentA Night of Frogs
A frog lives in our garden
in a pond beneath the tree.
I hear it croak at bedtime
as it says ‘goodnight’ to me.
A frog lives by our back door
on a post below the light.
I sneak outside to say ‘hello’
because it’s only there at night.
A frog lives in our laundry
in the corner of the wall.
I check when I come back inside
to make sure it didn’t fall.
A frog lives in our kitchen
in the space behind the sink.
It freezes in the torchlight
when I get myself a drink.
A frog lives in our bathroom
and I don’t know what to do
because it isn’t where it should be.
Yuk! It’s swimming in the loo!
My mum comes in the bathroom,
plants a kiss upon my head.
‘The frogs are fine just where they are
but you should be in bed!’
Kristin Martin
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentBetrayed
Barnaby’s clearly in love with my sister,
He cannot resist her.
I’ve seen how he’s kissed her.
She’s only been gone for a day but he’s missed her.
It’s time for a family chat.
Needless to say, my proposed intervention
will cause more dissension
than I care to mention
but I am the one who deserves the attention
since Barnaby’s my freaking cat.
Jenny Erlanger
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentThere once was a postie called Progge
Who had a most wonderful dog
It could carry more letters
Than fifteen red setters
And he never got lost in the fog!
Sioban Timmer
- Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #27
Sioban says: I wrote this in primary school after we learnt about limericks – and for some reason I have always remembered it!
Australian Children’s Poetry 