Tag Archives: poems for children

History Through the Ages by Charlotte Riley

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History Through the Ages

 

History is like going into another world

Where legends of kings are unfurled

So travel with me

Through the French Dynasty

Where we shall meet the short man Napoleon

Nah let’s go to a Mongolian

Place where Genghis Khan resides

With his army under tented hides

Then we shall go see Billy the Kid

And right after that we shall get rid

Of that English monster Jack the Ripper

And kill him with a kipper

Now let’s go see Abraham Lincoln

Who is quite surely thinkin’

How to abolish slavery

I admire him for his bravery

Oh and look over there it’s Elizabeth the first

Boy she really looks like she’s going to burst

After eating all that luxurious food

Oh my she just burped, how very rude

Now we shall go visit Henry Third

My oh my, he’s such a nerd

Quickly let’s go and see Julius Caesar

Who is really quite the crowd pleaser

And Leonardo Da Vinci is painting the Mona Lisa

Let us watch him and eat some pizza

So now we should go see famous Socrates

Boy, I think he should watch more comedies

Alas, now our journey has come to an end

Hopefully I will get to see you ‘round the bend.

Charlotte Riley

Terrible Deep the Horrible Snow by Doug McLeod

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Terrible deep the horrible snow

A Hedgehog Song

  

Terrible deep the snow is

Deeper than ever we saw

Nestled together we pray for warm weather,

Waiting for winter to thaw.

Were I a swallow I’d happily follow

All of my friends as they fly

Off in formations to southern locations

Delightfully sunny and dry.

 

Here in the forest it’s twenty below,

Shivery blizzards persistently blow

Making you freeze from your top to your toe.

Terrible deep, the horrible snow

 

Terrible deep the snow is,

Wish I could sleep like a log.

Snoozing and snoring, while possibly boring,

Is better than flurries and fog.

Happily dreaming till sunlight starts gleaming

I wouldn’t wake up till the spring –

I envy them dearly, who hibernate yearly –

For winter’s a terrible thing.

 

Summer is fast but the winter is slow

Icicles form and the rivers won’t flow,

Birds by the million left ages ago

Terrible deep, the horrible snow.

 

Longer and colder the winter nights grow

How we survive it we really don’t know

Nothing to eat but the acorns we stow

Terrible deep, the horrible snow.

 

Doug McLeod 

A Very Peculiar Rabbit by Loretta Re

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A Very Peculiar Rabbit

 

Listen to my stunning news

I met a rabbit wearing shoes

One was red and one was green

The oddest pair I’d ever seen

One had clips and one had laces–

Tangerine to match his braces

He had a pom-pom on his hat

No other clothes—imagine that!

Loretta Re

Ker-plop by Allan Cropper

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KER-PLOP

 

Ker-plop

ker-plop

Will it never stop?

That dripping tap

keeps dripping

dripping

dripping

ker-plop

ker-plop

 

 

plip-plop

plip-plop

I hear every single drop.

That leaking tap

keeps nipping

nipping

nipping at my brain

while water keeps on dripping

dripping

dripping

down the drain

ker-plop

ker-plop

please someone make it stop.

That leaking tap

ker-plop

ker-plop

Is driving me insane.

Allan Cropper

Light and Shadow by Jenny Erlanger

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Light and shadow

 

The sun is low behind us

as we contemplate the view,

a vista to remind us

that we’re part of nature too.

 

We happily surrender

to the grandness of this spot

and know within its splendor

that we’re nothing but a dot.

 

Our shadows, in defiance,

take a more aggressive stand.

A family of giants

makes its mark upon the land.

Jenny Erlanger

 

I Am Fire by Marsala Strachan

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I Am Fire

I am frightening.
I can be made from lightning.
One small spark brought me awake.
I am winding like a big red snake.
I am like a blood red wall.
I am the beast that ate it all.
My flames flickered, I crept.
I snickered and then … I leapt.
I am roaring.
Catching every bird that is soaring.

Marsala Strachan

  • Marsala’s poem received a Special Mention in  the 12th Kathleen Julia Bates Memorial Writing Competition. For full results click here.

Imagining the Life of an Earwig by Helen Hagemann

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Imagining the Life of an Earwig

 

Leave a door open long enough

and an earwig will enter. The kitchen

is the most popular to travel in.

Among insects a decision is made

(those of different species)

not to touch or pass by in the hallway.

An ant and earwig might come together

and part, safe in the knowledge

that when one leaves another arrives.

It’s the past meeting the future

simultaneously.

Whichever direction an earwig goes,

it will be one fast step

from the swish of a dog’s tail,

or the pounce of a cat’s paw.

Outdoors, earwigs forage in drains, leaf litter.

They love the chemistry of winter air,

the heavy crash of rain, a blue sky when it stops.

Sometimes you find an earwig sleeping between

the sheets of the morning newspaper,

although a quick flap or roll

over discarded scraps

can be fatal.

Helen Hagemann

Bath Time by Sophie Masson

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Bath Time

 

Soap-fish, soap-fish, slipping through my fingers,

Soap-dish, soap-dish, sailing like a boat.

Toothbrush, toothbrush, turning into long-ship,

Hairbrush, hairbrush, learning how to float.

Look! One hand’s a submarine,

The other a breaching whale,

My toes are pointed coral rocks,

There’s the splash of a dolphin’s tail!

My bath’s become an ocean,

And I’m the sailor bold

Who roams the wild blue yonder–

Until the water gets cold!

Sophie Masson

Clearing Cobwebs by Jenny Erlanger

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Clearing Cobwebs

 

Mum said I shouldn’t worry

that I didn’t need the doc,

that I’d clear away the cobwebs

with a walk around the block

 

So I went and fetched my sneakers

and I did what I was told.

I grabbed my woollen beanie

and I stepped out in the cold.

 

The walk was quite refreshing.

quite a joy, I’d have to say

but it didn’t help at all

to make the cobwebs go away.

 

It might have been less trouble

if I’d gone into my room

and poked into the corners

of my ceiling with a broom.

Jenny Erlanger

Orang-utan Crying by Ken Williams

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Orang-utan Crying

 

Forest wakes,

Brand new day.

Mother stretching,

Orang-utans play.

 

Little-ones rolling,

Little-ones tumbling.

Little-ones swinging,

Little-ones fumbling.

 

A sudden rumbling,

Looks of worry.

Engines roaring,

Little-ones scurry.

 

Forest falling,

Can’t find cover.

Little-ones scampering,

Can’t find Mother.

 

Engines blaring,

Forest bare.

Trees smouldering,

Nothing there.

 

Engines ceasing,

Mother enraged.

Trucks retreating,

Little-one’s caged.

 

Sun setting,

Forest dying.

Earth shattering,

Orang-utan crying.

 Ken Williams

  • Highly commended in  the 12th Kathleen Julia Bates Memorial Writing Competition. For full results click here.