Category: Uncategorized
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As the Olympics are usually around this time of the year – July-August, I thought I’d jump in with an Olympic poem. As a teenager, I represented my school in the ‘Long Jump’ category of athletics… briefly. Of course, the tiniest wrong move could disqualify you, as I discovered after travelling for hours with my…
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These two poems of mine are published by The School Magazine, Australia, in different issues. Please click on images to enlarge. Illustrations: Matt Ottley The magazine has also made a noisy video of the second poem, ‘Downpour’, which you can watch here. I’ve typed the words of the poems below, for clarity. Hoping I’ll have…
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This little poem, ‘What is Summer for?’, hasn’t been appropriate for this particular summer up till about now, but as lockdowns – and the weather – start to lift, I’m hoping it’ll have some relevance now. Here it is, in Wayland’s anthology, Poems about Seasons, anthologist Brian Moses, illustrated by Ellie Jenkins. You’ll also find…
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Here’s a last-minute post for Insect week. Being as flutter-brained as an insect, I forgot about it until today. This bunch all come from my book, Wildlife Poems (2009, now out of print). Incidentally – or insect-entally – the little illustrations are mine too. Lady-Birdy Speckledy-dotty, dottledy-specky, freckledy-spotty, spottledy-frecky, metally-bright, petally-light, whoopsy-daisy beetly-thing. (I should…
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It’s a windy day here in south Wales, perhaps with you, too? As I clipped away at the garden hedge earlier, the gale tugged at my clothes and stirred my hair up, and set my cuttings flying before I could sweep them up. I felt rather like the wind-teased narrator of this old poem of…
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The Tree on the Hill The tree on the hill is my friend: he greets me night and day. Whenever I take a glance, he’s there. ‘Hi!’ he seems to say. And he’s my calendar: he guides me through the year. When his emerald crown turns gold, I know that winter’s near. And…
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Today, with all our windows open, the sun pouring in and sounds of sleepy, locked-down life drifting gently in, I recalled this old poem of mine, ‘Lazy summer sounds’, published in Australia’s The School Magazine back in 2013. The lovely picture, by artist Cheryl Orsini, brings it to life. Incidentally, ‘an aeroplane’ per day is…
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Hi! I’ve been making up some silly, 4-line rhymes for kids (and big kids like myself) during the lockdown. Well, we’ve got to do something to keep smiling while we’re all shut away, haven’t we? Lots of these so-called Funny Rhymes are available in print at my Tes shop, if you fancy a browse…
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Published in The School Magazine, Blast Off edition, April ’20 issue. Great illustration by Peter Cheong.
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The Upside of Lockdown Through my window I can’t see hectic crowds, hurrying to work, kids, like me, off to school, traffic trundling slowly down the road, aeroplanes crossing the sky. Through my window I can’t see anything I usually see – or used to do till recently. Just flitting birds and the…