Tag Archives: poems for children

Pretty Cities by Celia Berrell

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Pretty Cities

Pretty cities love their trees.

We know they help prevent disease

by trapping poisons found in air

from fumy cars that drive round there.

 

Green-leaved cities cool things down.

Those leafy air-cons make no sound

evaporating water while

providing shady streets with style.

 

Tree-lined cities seem to manage

heavy rain and water drainage.

Tree roots tend to drink-up well-as

leafy crowns form umbrellas.

 

Pretty cities need their trees.

From wind-chimed leaves and shadowed ease

to joys of birdsong’s many keys.

So cities, please don’t lose your trees.

Celia Berrell

Celia said: In leafy suburbs and shady streets, gentle giant trees do more than simply add a splash of green to a city’s stony setting. I’m grateful for those city trees.

Platypus’s Penchant by Kate O’Neil

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Platypus’s Penchant

 

‘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.

Kate O’Neil

Ivy’s Adventure by Virginia Lowe

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IVY’S ADVENTURE

 

Irascible Ivy was angry

As she watched children skip through the gate

Magic shouldn’t be easy

It made her feel queasy

Still she worried that she’d be too late

 

She knew the gate had to lead somewhere

Enchanted that land was for sure

So she structured a ladder

And couldn’t be gladder

Imagine the magic she saw!

Virginia Lowe

 

Rosella’s Dilemma by Celia Berrell

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Rosella’s Dilemma

 

At five-to-eleven Rosella flew in

to a magical garden where time stands still.

With five giant statues of fairy-tale folk

and two silver fountains that sang and then spoke.

 

Eleven big books that could read for themselves

surrounded by flowers and mischievous elves.

Eleven days later he flew out again

and found that the time was exactly the same.

 

“Still ten fifty-five?” he said with a grin

“In that case, I may as well do it again!”

 

Celia Berrell

Celia said: Your photo looks like a place where time stands still … At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day for all the things that need to be done.  Having somewhere beautiful to go, where time stands still, sounds like a fantastic solution.  I’m imagining it right now.

The Spell by Monty Edwards

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The Spell

 

Four metres tall

or possibly five metres!

It stares at us

with one red eye

as we approach.

 

We pause,

held by its gaze,

not daring to move forward;

not wanting to retreat.

 

People join us,

but they go no further than we

as if hypnotised

by that same red eye.

 

Click, click, click . . .

 

Suddenly, the red eye disappears

and we are free

to go safely

across the busy road.

 

The little green man

has broken the spell!

 

Monty Edwards

Monty says: “The prompt had me thinking of traffic lights, which seemed very mundane for a simple rhyme, so I felt I’d recast it to inject some drama using a bit of imagery and free verse.”

River by Margaret Pearce

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RIVER

 

Running to school one cold wet day

Into dreams of escape and running away

Visiting islands full of sea and sun

Enjoying swimming and lots of fun

Returned to reality dark and grey.

 

Required homework not done yet

Idiot me never a teacher’s pet

Very hard to get past this disaster

Explaining why I can’t work faster

Rewriting forever the homework set.

 

Margaret Pearce

 

Gateway by Jaz Stutley

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GATEWAY

 

This portal

speaks to me of Narnia:

the last book, the last battle.

 

Long before Dr Who,

C.S. Lewis knew, we knew

of the stable bigger on the inside;

 

though that door was rough and wooden,

a portal can disguise itself

as a gate in a lichened stone wall.

 

But enter at your peril.

The Irish faery folk haunt castles

and barrows, and mortal souls

 

can wander their land for a day; returning

to find it is seven years or seventy.

And Narnia was a faery place.

 

Look, admire, beware; walk through –

only if you desire to be bewitched,

craving the adventure of your life.

 

Jaz Stutley

 

Phineas McGonagall by Alys Jackson

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Phineas McGonagall

Phineas McGonagall was very strange indeed,

For the manner of his feeding and for where he kept his feed.

Upon his head, he wore a wig of lamington and cheese.

His beard was full of ‘little boys’ that dangled to his knees.

Among his friends I must say there were many most disgusted:

And so would you be if you knew just where he kept his custard.

To critics Phiny simply smiled and said, ‘Now look here sonny!’

Stamped a dusty boot from which erupted blue gum honey.

‘With a narnie in me pocket and some damper in me daks,

I’m never short of tucker as I tred life’s sandy tracks.

From Alice Springs to Zanthus I have never ‘ad the munchies.

-Thanks mostly to me grundies where I keep a stash of crunchies!-

And I betcha when I cark it and am carried out feet first,

The tinnies in me pocket slake the undertaker’s thirst!’

Alys Jackson

 

  • Alys is a regular contributor to The School Magazine and has just won the 2017 Award for Poetry at the Henry Lawson Festival of Arts. 

RIVER RUN (Acrostic) by Jaz Stutley

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River Run

 

Run river run:

sIlver over stones

riVer sobs and moans;

briEf gleam in the sun:

riveR run and run.

 

 

Run River run

rapId to the seas;

riVer leap with ease,

tEasing just for fun:

River run and run.

Jaz Stutley

 

 

Why? by Celia Berrell

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Why?

 

“Why?” as a child is a popular word.

It shows that we want to know more of our world.

And sometimes we learn

some incredible things:

 

Like why the sky’s blue

and what is a gnu

and how you can catch

the measles and ‘flu.

And back in the past

how much harder life was

because of the things

that nobody knew.

 

It’s part of our nature to want to know why

despite that the answer’s a truth or a lie.

And sometimes we learn

some incredible myths:

 

Like why Santa comes

only once a year.

And when will the Easter

Bunny appear.

Descriptions of monsters

that cause us great fear.

And how crystal balls

make everything clear.

 

While we’re a child, all answers seem true

(until we get older and think them all through).

But even as adults we frequently find

it’s not always easy to change our mind!

 

Celia Berrell

Celia said: Got a question?  Nowadays we can look for answers on the internet any time 24/7.  But how can we tell if the information we find there is true or false?  That’s another question!