Tag Archives: Katherine Gallagher

Gallipoli with Teacher Notes

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Gallipoli

Say that the word is gall –

cusped, broken on the tongue:

redolent of battles that appal.

Say that the word is gall.

Heroes, ordinary blokes, all

sung for Gaba Tepe, dying young –

Say that the word is gall –

cusped, broken on the tongue.

*The Landing at Anzac Cove, Sunday 25 April, 1915

is also known as the Landing at Gaba Tepe.

Katherine Gallagher

Teacher Notes:

The poem above is a TRIOLET about Anzac and the loss of young life. Secondary school students may like to try this form.

The TRIOLET has eight lines but only two rhymes. The first line is repeated twice and the second once :AbaAabAB,

My poem Gallipoli is a play on words on the word gall and bitterness.

Look online for other examples of a TRIOLET and give it a try.

Enjoy

Katherine Gallagher

 

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Football Shape Poem with Teacher Notes

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Teacher Notes: By Jeanie Axton

This time of the year is a good opportunity to construct sporty shape poems. In SA we have our first AFL round this weekend and with my limited knowledge of rugby it looks like it’s started in NSW and Queensland.

Both the AFL and NRL offer many online resources for teachers.

Find below a link to the AFL Teaching and Learning Resources and a screen shot with suggestions for English. Also a link and screen shot to a NRL site re a Well Being unit for schools.

Dont forget to give girls who play footy and rugby a plug. Women’s football in the AFL is in its second season.

AFL link ( Yes number 5 is a poetry idea )

http://www.aflcommunityclub.com.au/index.php?id=1859

 

NRL link

https://www.teachstarter.com/teaching-resource/nrl-wellbeing-unit/

 

Poem of the Day

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Tanka

 

Last night, the full moon

hung like a papery lamp

over my quiet road.

I savoured the chilly sky –

the moon tagging my shadow.

Katherine Gallagher

  • Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #16

(first published in The Unidentified Flying Omelette, ed. Andrew Fusek Peters, Hodder & Stoughton)

 

Poem of the Day

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Wheels Song

 

I don’t know why I’ve got feet

when I could have had wheels,

for wheels go so much faster.

 

Imagine me flying down our street

not in my trainers or boots

but on wheels, with my ghetto-blaster.

 

Imagine people turning to stare

and all telling me to slow down

before I caused a disaster.

 

Imagine me gliding off into space

with a quick little nod to the Moon,

then simply going straight past her. . .

 

© Katherine Gallagher

(Published in Through a Window, Longman, 1995)

  • Submitted in Response to 2016 Poetry Prompt #42

Prompt5

Poem of the Day

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Mal Kennington Malone

 

Mal Kennington Malone

wasn’t good at games.

His classmates always laughed

and called him names:

 

dumb-chum, drophead,

you silly billy shark –

biggest flapfingers

in Bladestone Park.

 

I think I’ll try running –

I know I’m not bad.

I could really show ’em,

he told his Dad.

 

He trained and trained

around an old dirt track;

he trained every day,

ran to school and back.

 

He trained and trained

and ran like a hare,

even trained when it rained,

racing everywhere.

 

When sportsday came,

he was first off the mark,

became the fastest winner

in Bladestone Park.

 

© Katherine Gallagher
  • Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #4

poetry-prompt-4

Poem of the Day

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Moonwatch

We’re studying the moon –

drawing it, remembering all the moons

we’ve ever seen.

 

Just now, through the window,

there’s a daylight-moon looking fragile,

egg-shell soft, pale white.

 

I’ve no plans to go up there

whizzing through the  blue,

landing on the pearly moon.

 

But I can’t stop thinking

about a blood-orange full moon

I saw inching up

 

into the summery sky.

It moved so slowly,

became a golden balloon

 

that never hurried.

I wanted to follow it,

catch it. But I never did.

 

© Katherine Gallagher

 

(Published in Read Me, (Macmillan, 2009, ed. Gaby Morgan)

  • Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #3

poetry-prompt-3

 

Poem of the Day

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Silly Shifts

 

All traffic jams jump questions.

No one can lose a dog in a hurry.

Therefore every day has a shape.

 

All fires have a starting-point.

There is only one sky.

Therefore clouds like to move a lot.

 

All squares have four corners.

Fish rarely swim in circles.

Therefore the ocean may look flat.

 

© Katherine Gallagher
  • Submitted in response to Prompt #46

poetry-prompt-46

 

Katherine said: Silly Shifts is a  response to randomness – good old fun.

Bluster . . .