‘Wakey-wakey, Platypus –
time to have your tea.’
Mummy prodded Platypus
quite impatiently.
‘Pumpkin, please not pumpkin,’
was Platypus’s plea.
‘You know how food that’s orange
does not agree with me.
I want purple periwinkles,
pickled, for my tea.’
And if I must have veggies
I’ll eat a frozen pea.
There was a certain platypus
He lived in five mile creek,
Who (prompted by the latest trend)
Went vegan for a week.
He tried butternut pumpkin cubes
And purple eggplant too.
He prodded peas with spoon and fork
And sipped hot mushroom stew.
He crunched on juicy celery,
Gave artichokes a try,
Sautéed leafy silver beet,
And munched on broccoli.
No doubt the fare was healthy,
But it mostly went to waste,
For those nutritious vegetables
Just didn’t suit his taste.
So he returned to worms and such
To bugs and shrimp so fine,
And left the vegetables to us;
Omnivorous mankind.
I prodded my mate as we rode on the train.
“You know that we’re just gonna thrash you again.
Your players are either too short or too slow.
It’s a foregone conclusion. Just thought you should know.
“Besides, your team’s mascot. Mate, give me a break.
A platypus? That is a major mistake!
A lion or tiger might stir up some fear.
A platypus? Your blokes have got no idea!
“And why is it purple? I tell you, it’s sad.
A team needs a mascot that’s scary and bad.
Yours just looks weird. It’s not a good look.
No wonder the team you support is so crook.”
My mate simply smiled. He wasn’t upset.
“You’re really so certain? Well, let’s have a bet.
You look and you sound like a back-country bumpkin.
You can share my soup later.” “Tomato?” “No, pumpkin.”
Purple-coloured jellybeans
with tiny arms and legs
will prod and poke a hole in
their marble-sized white egg.
Once hatched, they’ll grow-up hairy
and have a leathery beak.
So are they some new kind of bird
whose wings became antique?
No, no. It’s not a birdy thing.
Then could it be lizard?
No. Fur won’t grow on reptiles …
unless tricked by a wizard!
At first they’re bald as pumpkins
and lap their mother’s milk.
But four months-old, a platypus
has fur like soft thick silk.
inspired by:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5Y2h5zjpWU
I poked a purple platypus
So playfully I prodded
It peered out of a pumpkin patch
it winked at me and nodded
The platypus was at a loss
no reason was there known
why he was in a pumpkin patch
and not his river home
I gently pushed him in a box
this muddled monotreme
and set him free to swim again
down at our local stream
Australian Children’s Poetry Website 