Tag Archives: poems for children

Eight Amazing Animals by Monty Edwards

Leave a comment

Eight amazing animals

 

Animals ev’rywhere always amaze:

Big beefy buffaloes quietly graze;

Cats with their claws out can climb and can scratch;

Dogs dive for balls using teeth for a catch;

Elephants’ ears are as big as can be;

Foxes from hunters can speedily flee;

Gentle giraffes are remarkably tall;

Heavyweight hippos have ears that are small.

I like the ibex. It surely can climb.

Just don’t wait for zebra. I haven’t the time!

 Monty Edwards

Monty Said:  For an alphabetic assignment I wanted a subject of interest to children that was represented by many examples. This would help provide maximum flexibility for the alphabetic choices and the accompanying rhymes. Animals seemed ideal. I decided to underline the alphabetic structure with some alliteration and the final line, but stopped at J to avoid monotony and less convincing examples.

Strike Away the Days by Sioban Timmer

Leave a comment

 

Strike away the days

 

Strike away the days

In strokes sharp and purposeful

Cut them down like old growth forest

The calendar boxes, the tree rings of our lives

With each slashing mark of pen to page

Screaming out the passing time

Strike away the year

Remove the tired dog eared pages

Cast aside events and tasks of yesterday

Carefully raise and hang the New Year high

Crisp and clean like the dove and olive branch

A new beginning in each blank square.

 

Sioban Timmer

Frangipani by Penny Szentkuti

Leave a comment

Frangipani

Frangipani

Grows, guerilla-planted, by the footpath.

How does a stick thrust

Into the dirt

Just grow?

Kicking into life,

Leaning into light,

Making the most of

Night rain,

Of morning dew.

Putting down roots

Quietly

Reaching down to grasp

Soil,

To hold the earth steadily

Until

Velvet furls of leaf appear,

Waking now above, as below.

Penny Szentkuti

Penny says: I enjoy constraints when writing poetry so I don’t feel overwhelmed by the task, so this prompt appealed to me. I’ve been observing a beautiful deep pink frangipani outside my place for several weeks and it was a delight to explore that with words. I like how I was forced to split phrases which increased the emphasis on some words and ideas.

Good News Story by Lynelle Kendall

Leave a comment

Good News Story

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.
 

Easter Unwrapped by Monty Edwards

Leave a comment

Easter Unwrapped!

 

Easter’s not about a bunny,

Nor the eggs in shops you’ll see

Wrapped in foil with shells of chocolate:

Mostly empty , you’ll agree.

Easter’s all about a Saviour:

One who died and rose again;

Paid a price to bring us freedom;

Lives for evermore to reign.

 

We can leave our guilt behind us.

Jesus bore it on his cross.

Start again, and grateful serve him,

Rescued from eternal loss.

Ours is wisdom to obey him:

He alone our rightful King;

This is lasting satisfaction

Chocolate eggs can never bring.

Monty Edwards

Monty said: Amid today’s crass commercialism, the poem attempts to remind readers of Easter’s original meaning and significance which remain important to millions the world over.

Not Hot Cross Buns Again!  by Carolyn Eldridge-Alfonzetti

Leave a comment

Not Hot Cross Buns Again!

 

At Easter Mum bakes special buns —

they’re warm and soft and sweet.

But with those piped white crosses

come some things this kid won’t eat.

 

The shiny glaze Mum brushes on,

I think is kind of icky.

It makes the buns look like they’re wet

and leaves my fingers sticky.

 

The shriveled-up sultanas

look like flies cooked in the dough.

I pick them out for our dog, Rex

(Shhhh.  Mummy doesn’t know!)

 

Those buns would be much nicer, too,

without mixed peel and spice.

If you ask me, next Easter,

hot cross doughnuts would be nice!

 by Carolyn Eldridge-Alfonzetti

 

 


The Subject Tonight is Towel, and other poems by Helen Hagemann

Leave a comment

The Subject Tonight is Towel

The subject tonight is towel

And from tomorrow night

And days after

Dad has no better topic

For us to discuss

Until we all

Hang up our towel

After showering.

 

Walls

Some people love walls.

They keep in yelping dogs,

But never cats or birds.

No one sees them talking at night

Yet walls do talk – to each other.

They compare positions, compositions.

Are they stone, cement or brick?

When they need our attention

They crumble for repair.

In winter a storm will blow them over.

Make gaps for geckos and hens.

Can you see the creatures scurrying

Passing two abreast?

Robert Frost loved walls, and said

They make good neighbours

Especially if they talked,

Had one’s garden trimmed,

Kept apple trees to one side

Pine cones to the other.

 

Do you love walls?

 

Leaves

There are

So many leaves

 

Each hangs on a branch

In thousands of different ways

Your eyes will see differences

 

Infinite shapes: ovoid, needle

Heart-shaped, linear or pencil

You can draw them green in spring

Paint the tree from where they came

Crinkle a gum leaf for its scent

 

So many leaves

Unfolding and falling

Into your world

 

Helen Hagemann

Helen says: I have three grand-children under seven years of age (both parents work) and therefore I notice things like towels left on the floor! Also I like subjects that might possibly appeal to children.

 

 

 

 

Am I a Poet? by Jenny Erlanger

Leave a comment

Am I a poet?

 

Today we had to write a poem

and so I took the time

to think of all the words I could

that sound as if they rhyme.

The teacher said, “Don’t worry

finding special words to fit,”

then read us out a funny poem

that didn’t rhyme a bit.

So then I worked at trying to rid

the rhyming from my head,

to concentrate on verse

that didn’t rhyme at all instead.

At first I didn’t have a hope,

the rhymes kept coming back

but I tried really hard

and wrote the poem

you’re reading now,

but somehow

it just doesn’t

sound right.

Jenny Erlanger

 Jenny says: Writing rhyming poetry has played such a big part of my life since childhood, that despite my own efforts to break out of the mold at times, I keep returning to it as a means of self-expression.

A Dotty Conversation by Melanie Hill

Leave a comment

A Dotty Conversation

 

I’m a dot.

No you’re not!

Yes I am.

Well, prove it.

I have curves.

You’ve got a nerve.

No I don’t.

Well, prove it.

See my shape.

Like a crepe?

That’s not round.

Yes it is.

Well, what are you?

I’m a spot.

No you’re not…

by Melanie Hill

Melanie says: The dots (or spots) reminded my of my children and how they are so similar but different. They also argue about everything and nothing, just like the dots (or spots).

M.Y.D.B. by Kate O’Neil

Leave a comment

M.Y.D.B.

 

I hate it when it happens

and I bet you hate it too.

You’re just walking on the footpath

and there’s dog-poo on your shoe.

 

And your friends say ’Phew!

I don’t want to sit with you

‘cause you just trod in dog-poo

and there’s dog-poo on your shoe.”

 

I know the dogs can’t help it.

Dogs just do what dogs just do.

But, owners, when you walk your dogs,

please collect the poo.

 

Kate said: “M.Y.D.B.” is to be ‘published’ as a laminated sign on the grassy footpath near a Bush-care site I work on. For obvious reasons.