Tag Archives: Katherine Gallagher

At the School Camp by Katherine Gallagher

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At the School Camp

 

In our hut, I’m first awake.

I peer through the curtains –

nothing’s stirring out there

except for three magpies and a crow

looking for their breakfast – maybe a worm

or two. Haven’t they slept? It’s only six o’clock!

Everyone in this hut is still asleep.

 

Then suddenly I see the sun

climbing, climbing, ever so slowly –

a faraway orange

that I can’t reach.

Katherine Gallagher

Published in Read Me At School (ed Gaby Morgan, Macmillan Children’s Books, 2009)

 Katherine said: I love “LOOK” as a POETRY PROMPT. It reminded me of my poem AT THE SCHOOL CAMP inspired by a wonderful sunrise in a weekend camp at Axedale, near Bendigo, Victoria.

Playing the Game by Katherine Gallagher

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Playing the Game

 

On match days,

I try to make sure

I play very well

and am first to score.

My team’s in blue,

the others are in grey.

 

In the heat of the minute

if I give the ball away,

it’ll be just too bad,

I won’t be picked next time;

it couldn’t be worse

if I’d committed a crime.

 

Don’t worry, Dad says,

A game’s just a game

but I’d like to be a star  ̶

maybe make my name.

Katherine Gallagher

 

Katherine said:  My poem ‘Playing the Game’ is  in response to the notion of  ‘star performance’, being a star, however  briefly and so on. Especially on the sports field.

At the Dinosaur Picnic by Katherine Gallagher

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At the dinosaur picnic

 

Dandy dinosaurs dancing

Dreamy dinosaurs drinking

Dexterous dinosaurs dinking

Dainty dinosaurs dazzling

Devilish dinosaurs diving

Dozy dinosaurs dallying

Delicate dinosaurs dawdling

Katherine Gallagher

 

Riddle by Katherine Gallagher

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What goes up

and never down?

 

When you’re born,

you count me in

race me on,

only occasionally forget me.

 

When you’re old,

I’m still growing.

 

What am I?

Answer:

upsidedown

 

Katherine Gallagher

 

A Girl’s Head by Katherine Gallagher

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A Girl’s Head

(after the poem, ‘A Boy’s Head’ by Miroslav Holub)

 

In it there is a dream

that was started

before she was born,

 

and there is a globe

with hemispheres

which shall be happy.

 

There is her own spacecraft,

a chosen dress

and pictures of her friends.

 

There are shining rings

and a maze of mirrors.

 

There is a diary

for surprise occasions.

 

There is a horse springing hooves

across the sky.

 

There is a sea

that tides and swells

and cannot be mapped.

 

There is untold hope

in that no equation exactly

fits a head.

Katherine Gallagher

From Poetry Street 3 (Sale & Orme, 1991)

Katherine said: Looking back at Poetry Prompts, I thought about #19 with its buzz of questions. And I alighted on questions about what goes on in a girl’s head. Actually, I wrote this in response to Miroslav Holub’s poem ‘A Boy’s Head’. The thing about poetry, it usually asks more questions than it answers, but that’s useful.

Broccoli-Broccoli by Katherine Gallagher

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Broccoli-Broccoli-

Higgeldy Pie . . .

 

For a balanced diet,

why don’t you try

Broccoli-Broccoli-

Higgeldy Pie?

 

Buy it by the basin

buy it by the jar,

buy it by the kilo

and sing oh la la.

 

Everyone says

it’ll make you strong —

a buccaneer will tell you

you can’t go wrong

 

with Broccoli-Broccoli-

Higgeldy Pie.

Come on, risk it,

it’s do or die . . .

Katherine Gallagher

Bullies by Katherine Gallagher

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Bullies

With the eye in the back of his head

he sees them coming —

 

eight-year-old breakers,

baby-hard, baby-soft.

 

Their elegant space-machine

could swallow him,

 

drown him once and for all

in a dish of air.

 

They are the masters —

skills bred in the bone.

 

He freezes

as they expect

 

though a voice inside him squeaks

I . ..Words cut his tongue,

 

weigh in his mind

like a bruise.

Katherine Gallagher

Published in Them & Us, Bodley Head, 1993

 Katherine Says: The poetry prompt “HELP” reminded me of occasions in schools and elsewhere when I’ve come up against bullying.

 

 

 

Humpty Dumpty by Katherine Gallagher

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Humpty Dumpty

 

Humpty Dumpty

jumped in the sea.

 

Humpty Dumpty

sank instantly.

 

All the young mermaids

and their mermen

 

couldn’t get Humpty

to surface again.

Katherine Gallagher

Katherine says: I like the note of  panic hinted at in your #26 prompt. It reminded me of my poem ‘’Humpty Dumpty’ which is jokey,  a  cry for help in a sense,  but very  tongue-in-cheek. I’ve enjoyed some sessions with children in which we tried to put a new slant on nursery-rhymes.

Count-up to Planet Bed by Katherine Gallagher

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Count-up to Planet Bed

 

I’m one for the window

and two for the door.

 

I’m three for the ceiling

and four for the floor.

 

I’m five for the morning

and six for the night.

 

I’m seven for the stairs

and eight for the light.

 

I’m nine for a story

and ten for my bed.

 

Now I’m off for a dream

to hold in my head.

 

Katherine Gallagher

Published in Toothpaste Trouble (ed. Nick Toczek, Macmillan, 2002)

Katherine says: Going to bed isn’t always a happy time but it can be made fun with ‘ a one-step-at-a-time’ count-up. Your Poetry Prompt #23 reminded me of this situation.

 

Night by Katherine Gallagher

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Night

 

I tiptoed to the window –

suddenly I could see

the stars come marching,

blinking at me.

 

When I woke next morning

they had gone away,

and the dark had unwrapped

a brand new day.

(From Somewhere in the Sky, Nelson Blackie,1996)

Katherine Gallagher

Katherine says: When I saw your cat, moon and window full of stars for a Poetry Prompt, I was reminded of my poem ‘Night’ and watching the stars make their slow entrance, then exit.