Ho Kookaburra
can’t sing a note –
all of his songs
get caught in his throat.
Ho Ho Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha,
it sounds easy but it’s not
as he scrapes and cackles, saws away,
it’s the only song he’s got.
It’s enough to make you laugh –
that’s the one thing he can do…
Try to copy him – Ho Ho Ho Ho
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ho Ho Ho Ho
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ho Ho Ho
Katherine Gallagher
Katherine says: This is a fun poem when done in class as everyone joins in.
The pigeon struts
along the ledge:
he never gets
too near the edge.
by Katherine Gallagher
Ho Kookaburra
can’t sing a note –
all of his songs
get caught in his throat.
Ho Ho Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha,
it sounds easy but it’s not
as he scrapes and cackles, saws away,
it’s the only song he’s got.
It’s enough to make you laugh –
that’s the one thing he can do…
Try to copy him – Ho Ho Ho Ho
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ho Ho Ho Ho
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ho Ho Ho –
your sides will shake in two.
LILLI BLACK SWAN
Lilli Black Swan
takes her time,
swims and dips
in water and slime.
She likes to glide
and is never topsy-turvy.
Is it just because
the water’s so curvy?
© Katherine Gallagher
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 surrender at will.
*******
All squares have four corners.
Fish rarely swim in circles.
Therefore the ocean may look flat.
********
© Katherine Gallagher
Space Riddle
My face
Is as wide as a mountain.
When I give orders,
I roar in thirty languages
and the stars blink.
I live on thin air
and sleep with my eyes open.
What am I?
Answer: Nobody knows.
© Katherine Gallagher,
Pigeon-Watch
The pigeon struts
along the ledge:
he never gets
too near the edge.
(Published in The King’s Pyjamas, Belitha Press, (ed. Pie Corbett) 2001)
Katherine Gallagher,
Bullies
With the eye in the back of his head
he sees them coming —
eight-year-old breakers,
baby-hard, baby-soft.
Their space-machine, so elegant
could swallow him,
drown him once and for all
in a dish of air.
No use trying to rewrite the law:
they are the masters —
skills bred in the bone.
He freezes —
they expect it,
though a voice inside him squeaks
I … Words cut his tongue,
weigh in his mind like a bruise.
© Katherine Gallagher
(Published in Them and Us (The Bodley Head, 1993) and Ramshackle Rainbow (Macmillan Children’s books, 2001)
Katherine Gallagher is a widely-published Australian poet resident in London. She writes for children and adults and has poems in many children’s anthologies. About Bullies, she says, ‘I wrote this poem in response to bullying that I witnessed in a local primary school. Bullying is tragic and a big social problem; children become increasingly insecure and afraid. Sadly, they often don’t tell anyone, even parents and teachers, and this misery can affect them for the rest of their lives’.
Bullies
With the eye in the back of his head
he sees them coming —
eight-year-old breakers,
baby-hard, baby-soft.
Their space-machine, so elegant
could swallow him,
drown him once and for all
in a dish of air.
No use trying to rewrite the law:
they are the masters —
skills bred in the bone.
He freezes —
they expect it,
though a voice inside him squeaks
I … Words cut his tongue,
weigh in his mind like a bruise.
© Katherine Gallagher
(Published in Them and Us (The Bodley Head, 1993) and Ramshackle Rainbow (Macmillan Children’s books, 2001)
Katherine Gallagher is a widely-published Australian poet resident in London. She writes for children and adults and has poems in many children’s anthologies. About Bullies, she says, ‘I wrote this poem in response to bullying that I witnessed in a local primary school. Bullying is tragic and a big social problem; children become increasingly insecure and afraid. Sadly, they often don’t tell anyone, even parents and teachers, and this misery can affect them for the rest of their lives’.
Australian Children’s Poetry 