Tag Archives: rhyming poems

Spelling Time by Warren Cox

Leave a comment

My very favourite time in class
is when we’re having spelling.
‘Cause that’s the time our teacher’s face
turns red from constant yelling.

“Those words were in your homework.
Ten times you wrote them out.
This class will be the end of me.
Why must you make me shout?

I’ll telephone your parents.
Your nonsense will be ended.
I’ll send you to the Principal
and have you all suspended.

I’ll ban you from the library.
There’ll be no more free reading.
Until you prove to me that
with your homework you’re succeeding.

No class time toilet visits.
You’ll have to just be strong.
No music, art, or play time
when you get your spellings wrong.

By now the teacher’s pacing.
His breathing is quite fast.
And all the kids are placing bets
on how long he can last.

Then finally it’s over
and he sits down at his table.
We know he’d like to say some more
but right now he’s not able.

That’s when we all begin to clap
And “Bravo !” someone shouts.
We’ll all do better next time Sir.
Of that there are no doubts.

The teacher asks “You promise?
In that case I’ll stop yelling.”
Oh yes! My favourite time in class
is when we’re having spelling.

Henry The Mouse by Toni Newell

Leave a comment

Henry,
was a little mouse
Who lived in the basement
Of a very large house.
 
At night,
when the lights went out
Henry would surface
And wander about.

He’d go to the kitchen 
In search of some food
And eat what he fancied
Dependent on mood.

Sometimes,
He yearned for a little sweet
He’d raid the cupboard 
To find what to eat.

He’d spend the night
Collecting food
To take back to
His little brood.

Mrs Henry was 
Delighted to see 
All the goodies provided
For the family tea.

Henry was clever
And avoided the traps
That held peanut butter
And that’s why perhaps.

He wasn’t a fan
Of that particular spread
Which saved his life
Otherwise he’d be dead.

Henry had lived
In the house for five years
Had avoided the traps
Which was one of his fears.

So Henry continued
Whilst his family grew
But dwellings were shrinking
Need to find somewhere new.

So he sent his grown children
To the house next door
He helped them set up
Which was quite a big chore.

Now two happy families 
Live side by side
Mrs Henry and Henry
Are both filled with pride.

Rhyming Rhino by Graham Seal

Leave a comment

They say my words are quite absurd,
my poems most preposterous,
my rhymes are poor, my rhythms wild,
my metre’s all quite monstrous.

But I don’t care what they say,
one day I will be prosperous,
because I am the world’s only
poetic rhinoceros.

Have You Ever? by Warren Cox

Leave a comment

Have you ever seen a turtle swimming with a whale?
Have you ever seen an elephant dancing with a snail?
Have you ever seen a grasshopper hopping with a frog?
Or a big fat walrus barking like a dog?

Have you ever seen a wagtail without a tail to wag?
Have you ever seen a hippo and a rhino playing tag?
Have you ever seen a kookaburra eating Christmas cake?
Or a lion and a tiger, laughing at a snake?

Have you ever seen a billy goat flying through the air?
Have you ever seen an alligator sitting on a chair?
Have you ever seen a goldfish splashing in your pool?
Or a baa baa black sheep on its way to school?

Have you ever seen an emu nesting in a tree?
Have you ever seen a butterfly bathing with a bee?
Have you ever seen a panda bear sliding on a sled?
Or a big bad wolf standing on its head?

Have you ever seen a rooster slipping down a slide?
Have you ever seen a peacock at the sea-side?
Have you ever seen a kitten give a puppy dog a hug?
Or a huge great dane shaking paws with a pug?

Have you ever seen a monkey dressed up like a clown
Have you ever seen a kangaroo hanging upside down?
Have you ever seen a rabbit thumb its nose at a fox
Or a two humped camel with its head inside a box

If you’ve never watched a wombat make dinner for a goat,
or a rooster and a rabbit drinking coffee on a boat.
If you’ve never seen a turkey doing ballet with a duck,
then I’ve got to say, “Dear children, you are just plain out of luck.”

My River of Dreams by James Aitchison

Leave a comment

Here is where I’d like to float,

in my very own white boat.

I’d slowly rock from side to side,

while sleeping on the gentle tide.

Sometimes I’d sail upstream in style,

and that would make life so worthwhile.

I’d catch some fish to cook each day,

and leave my troubles far away.

Teacher’s note: This poem could invite a class discussion about why people love their boats and rivers.  What dreams do students have about a “dream” escape?

Nature’s Knitting by James Aitchison

Leave a comment

Howling winds

from raging seas,

relentless, wild,

distort the trees.

Stunted growth

in salty air,

in sandy soil,

forlorn and bare.

Yet even here 

we find beauty,

in harsh and tangled

symmetry.

A Poem by Warren Cox

Leave a comment

a poem can be quite funny

a poem can be quite sad

some poems are really sensible

while others are quite mad

some are rather silly

designed to fashion laughs

with talk of roosters ducks and geese

or large long necked giraffes

but poems can tell a story

not just be rhyming word

a poem can make your heart take flight

on strong emotions stirred

a poem can give you pleasure

wonderous and sublime

of which there is no measure

take you to another time

and poems belong to everyone

just follow where they lead

turn the page and there they are

in thought word and deed

for poetry is ancient

a timeless limitless cloak

of thoughts and feelings infinite

as old as language spoke

Milo and I by Warren Cox

Leave a comment

Milo and I took a stroll through the park.
Mum said “Remember! Be home before dark.” 
We spotted a goanna hiding in the grass.
He was in our way so we couldn’t get past.

Milo can’t talk but he sure can bark.
He scared that goanna right out of the park. 
We came upon a cassowary underneath a tree.
I didn’t like the way that he was looking at me.

Milo can’t talk but he sure can bark.
He scared that bird right out of the park. 
We crept up on a snake that was resting in the shade.
It made a hissing noise and I felt quite afraid.

Milo can’t talk but he sure can bark.
He scared that snake right out of the park. 
We noticed an echidna searching for some ants,
all around the tree roots and up and down the plants.

Milo can’t talk but he sure can bark.
He scared that echidna right out of the park. 
Then I said to Milo it’s getting very dark.
It’s just about time that we were leaving this park.

But just as we’d decided we really shouldn’t stay,
who do you think was standing in our way? 
With looks on their faces that made me start to shake,
goanna, echidna, cassowary, snake.

Standing at the front and peering through the grass
was old man goanna who wouldn’t let us pass. 
And echidna and cassowary looking so mean
that my knees started knocking, what a frightening scene.

Waiting right beside them to give us such a scare
was snake with his forked tongue testing the air. 
Milo can’t talk and he couldn’t even bark.
We were both so scared we ran right out of that park!

My Sheep Rock by James Aitchison

Leave a comment

I saw some rocks in Ireland

and the farmer there explained,

“I built myself a little wall

to keep my sheep contained.”

“The big stones on the bottom,”

the smaller ones on top,

and it cost me not a penny

for my roaming sheep to stop.”

“And who needs to have a gate

when you have this kind of pen?

I just lift some stones away,

then put them back again.”

Teacher’s note: Dry stone walls are constructed of carefully selected interlocking stones without mortar to hold them in place. Found in hilly areas of Britain, Scotland and Ireland, especially in Connemara on the West Coast where large stones exist in the soil. One system of Irish dry stone walls was carbon-dated to 3800 BC. Closer to home, dry stone walls can be found in western Victoria, some parts of Tasmania, and around Kiama in New South Wales.

The Land That Never Was: Part 1 by Andrew Plant

Leave a comment

In the Land that Never Was something’s very strange because
Everyone who’s living there always has quite messy hair

In this land as you look around things disappear without a sound
So you must be careful where you look which makes it hard to read a book 

A spell was put upon this place by a goblin mean with nasty face
Who people tried hard to avoid which made the goblin most annoyed

So angry did he get one day he said “I’ll make these people pay
Since they refuse to look at me I’ll take away all that they see”

“Gingel gangel gungel gel” went the nasty goblins spell
“to smell and taste and hears’s okay but where they look will go away”

“All except what they stand on this will always carry on
The ground will always remain there as one safe place for them to stare”

It didn’t take the people long to realise what was going on
They’d look in mirror to brush their hair and find themselves no longer there

And so with family and friends one look would surely mean their end
Thus they learnt to move around looking only at the ground

Mirrors had to be thrown out and people soon forgot about 
The need to brush their hair each day for no one would see it anyway

The goblin clapped his hands with glee and said “Oh clever clever me”
Which made everybody look at him and that removed his nasty grin

Now the ugly goblin’s gone but his spell still lingers on 
And the people still have their messy hair because there are no mirrors there