A Spider’s Dilemma
by Pat Simmons
An arthritic arachnid with eight knobbly knees
Sought medical help for her painful disease.
Her doctor prescribed her with cream to rub in
But the problem was how and just where to begin!
Tag Archives: poetry for children
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentThe Conchers *
by Allan Cropper
I asked my mum, “How will I know
If I do something wrong?”
She told me that my conchers would
Help me to get along.
“Just listen to your conchers and
you’ll know what you should do.”
I don’t know who my conchers are.
Some people I once knew?
“Where will I find my conchers, Mum?
Are they under my bed?
Are conchers real or make believe?
Are they inside my head?”
And then one day I heard a voice
That stopped me on the spot.
“If I were you I’d think again.
Perhaps you just should not”.
I looked around, no one was there
to say a single word.
I knew then that my conchers were
the voices that I heard.
“Listen to your heart” is the
advice that I now give.
I think that deep within the heart
is where the conchers live.
* Conscience
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentSorry Notes
by Helen Hagemann
In the morning when I walked outside
it was like stepping back into a previous
spring, one year ago, and counting on ten
fingers the number of mice our male cat
had dropped at the back door. So I wasn’t
surprised this year to see another mouse,
already in rigor mortis, forepaws together
as if in prayer; exhaustion showing on its
face, as if flung from a far universe
and the intensity of a cat’s playful tease.
So now, with notebook and pen, I’m writing
sorry notes to all the dead mice whose souls
must have lifted up that day from their small
graveyard of parsley, basil or mint. And a
final “sorry” to the latest offering, its tiny
grey coat pasted on terracotta; held there for
the author’s pen to record, either from pity or
sympathy, one word the mouse would never hear.
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentIn or Out?
By Nadine Cranenburgh
(Can be sung to the tune of ‘Do Your Ears Hang Low?’)
Is your belly button in, like a dimple in your skin?
Can you pull it down to frown? Can you pull it up to grin?
When you stretch your tummy tight, does it disappear from sight?
Is your belly button in?
Is your belly button out? Can you wiggle it about?
When you roll your tummy down, is it like a puppy’s snout?
If you poke it right in, then, does it pop straight out again?
Is your belly button out or in?
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentQuestions about Wasps
by Helen Hagemann
Each morning, a wasp starts out as a lone traveller
heading into the garden, its hind legs dangling and
trailing in the wind. These moments are an eloquent
gesture of nature, the wasp on a journey into nectar,
jazzing up noisy wings, talkative as the bumble bee
already in the Fuchsia. There are many questions you
might want to ask, yet the only one you do know is
that wasps sting, especially late summer if you have
a fly swat or rolled newspaper in your hand.
Yet you’re curious about this eager garden traveller, like
a fly-in miner, flying out. Is he copying the tiger with
all those stripes on his back? Is he the bee’s rival, as he
hovers in mimicry? Is it to camouflage pincers in wax flowers
or to fool the bumble bee into thinking he is one of him?
And why does this busy wasp follow from petal to stamen
and stamen again, and not the other way around? What about
his paper-mache home, is that in the roof? Is he building
a colony of one hundred wasps, damaging the beams?
You guess that wasps are designed to make you think. So,
wondering about that loud buzzing noise as he backs out of
a bud, is he imitating the operatic bee who comes out singing?
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentHouse of germs
by Jenny Erlanger
Dad’s got a fever, he’s dripping with sweat.
Mum’s got a virus, the worst you can get.
Buster keeps coughing, we’re calling the vet.
And I’m stuck in the house for the day!
My brother’s come down with the nastiest flu,
my sister’s been chucking for hours in the loo.
the cat has been constantly vomiting too.
Could you please come around for a play?
This poem was originally published in “Giggles and Niggles” (Haddington Press, 2007)
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentA Snake Swallowed Poor Henry
By Mike Lucas
A snake swallowed poor Henry on his visit to the zoo.
A snake swallowed poor Henry and I know this to be true,
For he disappeared the moment that his classmates turned their backs,
And the snake grew fat and lumpy half a moment after that.
A snake swallowed poor Henry as he licked at his ice-cream.
A snake swallowed poor Henry, though we didn’t hear him scream.
All we heard was slither, slither and a satisfying hiss
And the snake grew fat and lumpy half a moment after this.
A snake swallowed poor Henry on our zoo visiting day.
A snake swallowed poor Henry while he looked the other way.
Someone shouted, ‘Look up in the sky! A flying alligator!’
And the snake grew fat and lumpy just a half a moment later.
A snake swallowed poor Henry but nobody found out why.
A snake swallowed poor Henry as he stared up at the sky.
All they saw was one boy gone and one long, fat and lumpy creature
And a smear of chocolate ice-cream on the lips of me, their teacher.
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentThe Rainbow Fairies
By Bridh Hancock
As I thought that I should die from
Eating what ain’t food for me,
I thought I saw, out through the window,
A rainbow there for me to see.
Now, rainbows bless, with mystic colours,
Evening skies quite magically;
Arching all the way up and over
From here to there — where that may be.
But this was quite another rainbow
Beckoning me to come outside.
How it sparkled in sequined splendor!
I saw Fairies down it slide.
Then they flew up, vanishing skyward —
This as only Fairies might. —
Oh, such beauty! — razzling! dazzling! —
Extra-squisite! What a sight!
The rainbow plonked down in our garden,
Out the back and down the yard,
Awesoming the veggie-patch
Of radish, cabbage (Yuck!) and chard.
I, alone in all the world,
Stopped to stare where, in the mud,
This singularly special, riveting rainbow
Quite transformed our humble spud.
Fairies in twenty different colours
There did spin and dance and sing,
And, having caught my startled attention,
Pointed with finger, toe, and wing
To where grew artichokes, Brussels sprouts,
Caulis and (Blagh! No-thanks!) Broad beans,
Then shouted with the voice of parents,
“Do as you’re told and eat your greens!
Yes, all your veggies and greens!”
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentCat Hair in My Underwear
by Nadine Cranenburgh
My kitties are expert at sleeping
To warm places they’re always creeping
Like the soft, cozy nests
Of undies and vests
That we leave on the couch for safe keeping
Poem of the Day
Leave a commentPraying Mantis
by Helen Hagemann
From inside the house
the praying mantis looks like
a caught twig, a small gesture
of wood rocking on wire.
Up close, it draws you in and
outdoors, its pencil-spine a cloudy
grey. Grey as the litany of squares
she hugs. The most interesting thing
is the way she carries her colours
to meld or disappear into fabric,
cottage wall, or branch. Tomorrow
she may be yellow, pink, or green
depending on the plot-size of garden
or unattended window, the parallel
lines of wire-mesh giving just the
slightest hint of stick, of leaf.
Australian Children’s Poetry 