If everything is going well,
And you can say, “I’m feeling swell!”
Then press the button on your right.
It’s cool and calm and painted white.
But if your life is in a mess,
The red button’s the one to press.
Sound the alarm, in just a tick,
We’ll all join in and “PANIC!”
The artist saw a landscape;
It inspired him to paint.
The poet saw her painting;
It inspired him to write.
The musician read the words,
And wrote a melody to match.
The dancer heard the song,
And it inspired them to dance!
A Single Thought
A single thought
Sends a man up a mountain
Or across vast oceans
Into unknown lands.
A single thought
Helps to unlock science
An apple falls
And he understands.
A single thought
Is the birth of kindness
Or the start of a story
Or an idea grand.
A single thought
(like the one you’re thinking)
Is how many great things
In this world began.
Lynelle Kendall
The Easter story starts at Christmas,
When a baby named Jesus was born.
A special child, sent to save all people.
He brought hope like a bright new dawn.
As a man he told people God wanted their friendship,
But the wrong things they did had to go.
God is good, he is sad when we steal, when we lie,
When we’re mean to the people we know.
The first Easter, good Friday, Jesus died on a cross,
Took away all those wrong things we do,
And to prove he’s God’s son, and that those things are gone,
He came back to life! Yes it’s true!
Trust him with your heart and you can be God’s friend!
That’s what Easter is really about.
Hot cross buns will remind us; Jesus made a way,
It’s a good news story, no doubt!
By Lynelle Kendall
Lynelle said: At Easter, Christians celebrate that Jesus died on the cross and came back to life. This good news is for all people everywhere. If you want to
find out more, ask the Chaplain at your school.
I’m standing in queue,
With you, you and you,
Feathered comrades all waiting to pay.
At the front sits an owl,
With a permanent scowl,
Give me patience! I’ve been here all day.
I’ve forms in my pinions,
And formed an opinion,
That registrations take too long.
At last it’s my turn,
With the owl looking stern,
Asking questions about right and wrong.
His queries abated.
How long I had waited!
Then he handed me paper and quill.
I loudly protested,
At the figure suggested,
So large was the size of my bill!
Lynelle Kendall
Arc of horizon
Sea hugging land
The shape of myself
I leave in the sand
Hollow of woomera
Line of my spear
Poised over ocean
Sparkling clear
Shapeshifting shadows
Shimmer of scales
Strike fast as lightning
Timber shaft sails
Cuts through the water
Whoop with delight
We’ll eat barramundi
For dinner tonight.
‘Guya’
Lynelle Kendall
Lynelle says: Written in response to Poetry prompt #3 “Shapes”, the third and fourth lines of the poem refer to the U symbol that represents a person in traditional indigenous dot paintings. It is based on my experience at Daliwuy Bay in Arnhem Land, where I watched a boy fishing with his spear in the shallows. In his language – Yolŋu Matha – guya means fish.
In my very big house
There’s a very small room
That’s just the right size for me
It’s under the stairs
It’s got pillows for chairs
And a torch so my teddies can see
There we read and we play
And tell stories all day
You see, we don’t need too much space
It’s all that I need
And I’m happy indeed
When I’ve crawled into my secret place.
Lynelle Kendall
Castle door. Gaping
like a wound in a
jigsawed
stone wall.
Yawning black, back, back
Into the depthless dark.
Stand on the threshold.
A feeling of falling,
Or something ghostly
Calling, calling.
Shudder to think
What peril awaits
For those who
Enter here.
Lynelle Kendall
Australian Children’s Poetry 