We blow them in streams
across the yard,
some small and marble-sized,
others as big as baseballs.
Every bubble iridescent,
a perfect world of its own,
mirroring grass, sky,
occasionally our faces.
Bubbles glinting with sunlight
swirl skyward or
float to the ground.
Each one
a little miracle
before it pops.
We blow them in streams
across the yard,
some small and marble-sized,
others as big as baseballs.
Every bubble iridescent,
a perfect world of its own,
mirroring grass, sky,
occasionally our faces.
Bubbles glinting with sunlight
swirl skyward or
float to the ground.
Each one
a little miracle
before it pops.
Vanessa Proctor
The Great Sock Hunter
Some cats like catnip,
some like toys with bells,
but I like socks
and their funny smells.
I catch socks from the laundry,
or from under the bed,
from the neighbour’s sock drawer,
or from the line instead.
I stalk, then pounce –
the shocked sock has a fright
and doesn’t put up
much of a fight.
I carry my prize
back to my lair,
behind the curtain,
there’s a mountain back there.
Then I hear my mistress,
“Have you seen my socks, John?
That’s the fifth pair this week.
Where have they all gone?”
“I don’t know dear.
Socks can’t just disappear.
We’ll have a good look,
they must be ‘round here.”
But I’ve outsmarted them all,
I think you’ll agree,
for I am the Great Sock Hunter.
No sock is safe from me!
© Vanessa Proctor
A Dragonfly
rests motionless on my finger
as I gently unravel
the spider’s silk
that is caught
around its wings and thorax.
It seems weightless,
with its dark, slender body,
and six fragile legs on my skin.
I unwrap each strand
until the dragonfly is free,
yet it doesn’t move.
We become a stillness
that dissolves into the morning
until suddenly it shimmers away
on brilliant wings
transparent into the blue.
© Vanessa Proctor
‘Dragonfly’ was published in ‘Quadrant’ Vol 57. No 1-2 2013 and has been accepted for publication by ‘The School Magazine’.
Australian Children’s Poetry 