Child Poems and Poems of Childhood

Just like me and you

2011-06-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

Dragons are lumpy

and purple and pink and blue

Dragons are magic

and sometimes they look

just like me and you

The Dragon lady lived in a little house

with a garden full of flowers

and lots of nettles for the butterflies

Foxes and rabbits and squirrels

lived in her garden

and in the grassy bank

just at the side of her house

Behind a high fence

so they'd be safe from the foxes

the Dragon Lady kept

lots and lots of birds

They were peafowl and turkeys

and guinea fowl and pigeons

and ducks and geese

and lots of lovely chickens

Some of the Dragon lady's chickens

were so special

that nobody else had any like them

The Dragon lady kept them safe

She fed her birds on golden corn

lots of wheat and oats and barley

with big baths of water for her ducks and geese to swim in

and little water dishes for her birds to drink from

Her birds gave her eggs to eat

and eggs to hatch to make more baby chickens

Sometimes they built a nest

laid the eggs and sat on them

In the spring and summer

lots of chickens would sit on nests

for three weeks - or more -

clucking and growling

until their babies hatched

Then they showed them

lots of important things to do

How to dust-bath in the driest soil

How to peck for food and how to leap

to catch the flies to eat

The chickens were very clever mums

and their baby chicks grew big and strong

They were taught how to go inside a shed

if the rain became very fierce

and how to preen their feathers

to make them smart and shiny

The chickens and turkeys were very happy

The guinea fowl and peafowl and pigeons

were also very happy

They flew about but always came home

to the Dragon Lady's garden

The ducks and geese swam in the water

all day long - and smiled a lot

They liked swimming and eating

and running about or lying in the sun

One day some people came to the Dragon Lady's door

They rat-tat-tatted with the knocker

and frightened both her stripy cats

They muttered and rat-tat-tatted again

When the Dragon lady opened her door

to see who was frightening her stripy cats

the people said We are The Officials

We have come to take your birds away

They looked like ordinary people

but the Dragon lady looked carefully

and the Dragon Lady's sandy dog sniffed the air

AND THEY COULD BOTH TELL

THAT THESE WERE DRAGONS

Dragons are lumpy

and purple and pink and blue

Dragons are magic

and sometimes they look

just like me and you

The Dragon lady said

Why have you come to take my birds away?

and she shed a silent tear

and her dog growled at her side

The Officials - who were really dragons said

Because your birds are dirty

See We have a pink piece of paper

The Top Official and The Silly Politician have signed it

The Dragon Lady looked at the pink piece of paper

all peafowl

All chickens and pigeons and guinea fowl

and turkeys and ducks and geese

are dirty They're dirty! They're dirty!

THEY'RE DIRTY!!! it said

..so these Officials can take them away

and you can't stop them it continued

It was signed by The Top Official

and The Silly Politician - and stamped

The Dragon Lady was very sad

Her sandy dog was very sad as well

He looked after her birds and kept them safe

from rats and Officials and Top Officials and Silly Politicians

The Dragon Lady said Oh alright

but I'm very busy today

You can take them away if you must

but you'll have to come back tomorrow

When they left she closed her door

and watched from her window

to check that they didn't take

any of her beautiful happy birds

Then she telephoned her friends

who came from a long way away

just to help her fight the dragons

The next morning all her friends had arrived

Dragons are lumpy

and purple and pink and blue

Dragons are magic

and sometimes the look just like me and you

The Officials who she knew were really dragons

came marching up her path

They rat-tat-tatted on her door

and she invited them into her house

The Dragon Lady knew you couldn't hit The Officials

who were really dragons

It didn't work

She would have to be much more clever than that

She gave them a cup of tea and a large piece of cake

They showed her the pink piece of paper

and a yellow piece of paper

and a purple piece of posh paper

The Dragon Lady said This paper says

my birds are very dirty but they're not

My ducks and geese bath in nice clean water every day

My chickens turkeys guinea fowl

peafowl and pigeons take long careful dust baths

This yellow piece of paper says

my birds have lots of diseases

but that's not true at all

They're very healthy birds

This purple piece of posh paper says

that eggs from my birds

will make people feel very ill

That can't be true

There are four eggs in that nice cake

You aren't very ill? Are you?

The Officials looked a bit worried

But they didn't feel very ill

The Dragon Lady and her friends

talked to The Officials about her birds

How special they were

and how many different kinds there were

The Officials were very surprised

They didn't know anything at all about birds

Some of the Dragon Lady's friends were children

They said You can't take these birds away

We come to see them and we like them

One of the dragon lady's friends

was a man who couldn't see very well

and he couldn't talk very much

but he loved coming to look after the birds

He talked a lot that day

and the Dragon Lady helped him

I look after these birds he said

You can't take them away

Another of the Dragon Lady's friends

knew about science and looking for dirtiness

- and he wrote for a big newspaper

which everybody read

He said These birds aren't dirty

Scientists say they're not dirty

If you take them away

I will write a story about it

in the big newspaper

Then everybody will know

that Officials and Top Officials

and Silly Politicians are stealing birds

You wouldn't like that would you?

The officials started to quake in their boots

They had to have another piece of cake

because they were so worried

The Dragon Lady said

You can't have my birds and that's that

The Officials tore up the pink piece of paper

and the children cheered and said Whoopeeee!

They tore up the yellow piece of paper

and the man who couldn't see very well

and couldn't talk very much said Oh good!

They tore up the purple piece of posh paper

and the man who wrote for the big newspaper said

Quite right too Don't you ever

threaten to take these birds away again

- and they never did

So the chickens and pigeons

and guinea fowl and peafowl

and turkeys and ducks

and geese

lived happily ever after

THE END

In another lifetime, aged 11

2007-11-20T15:45:00.000-08:00

In another lifetime, aged 11.

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Statia and The Standing Stones

2007-11-14T13:43:00.001-08:00

When I was little
the big girl - and her friends - took me out

I sat in the pushchair and she pushed
Her name was Statia
and she was very nice to me

We went a long way
Near the Convent where she went to school
there were Standing Stones
They were very old

Some of them were flat like tables
The rest were very tall and straight
just like people standing very still

We had a picnic near the Stones
Bread and jam and a drink of water
It was very nice

All the sky over the hill
started to change from blue to pink
Sometimes it was orange

I sat in the pushchair
and Statia and her friends
took turns to push me

We had to be home before dark
so my mother wouldn't be angry
It was a long way back
But we could see the lovely colours

The sun turned very red
As it slid away we walked along our path
Mother was at the door waiting
She was very glad to see me

Statia and her friends said
"Goodnight Christine See you soon"
Mother gave me some milk and I had my tea
Then she put me to bed

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Responsible for Me

2007-11-14T13:40:00.000-08:00

My big brother went to school before me
I had to walk to school with him and mother

At the gate we waved and he had to go into school
He always cried when we left him
So I used to cry as well

Mother used to take us the short way
most of the time
We walked across Canada Gardens

When we reached the railway bridge
she used to pick my brother up
so he could see over the wall

Sometimes there was a train turning round
on the turntable

My big brother said if it was there or not
If it was there I could be picked up next
If it wasn't there I wasn't allowed to look

Then we walked past the toy factory
We never saw any toys though

Then past the old poeple’s houses
They didn't have an upstairs
Sometimes we saw an old person

When my big brother kept on crying at school
they said I had to go to school as well

I was only four but I wanted to go to school
My big brother had to be responsible for me
Then he didn't cry

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Newspapers and Sunday School

2007-11-14T13:38:00.000-08:00

When I was little the shops didn't open on Sunday
Newspaper men sold from the back of a van
or on dry days set papers out along the pavement

My father always fetched the papers
sometimes on his way to somewhere
He rode upon his motorbikeand put them in the sidecar
Sometimes he walked to fetch them

If we were very good we were allowed to go with him
We could carry them home - if we didn't drop them
When I was eight - or nine - I could read very well
but my mother wouldn't let me read the papers

"The Sunday Despatch and The News of the World
are not suitable for children" she would say
So that was that

My big brother and I had to go to Sunday School
before my father was allowed to read them

They had to be tidied away before we came home
I used to wish we didn't have to have newspapers on Sunday
Then we wouldn't have to go to Sunday School

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Granny Scot and The Robber

2007-11-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

My granny hobbled down the street
to buy some bread and buy some meat
and when she hobbled back again
a robber waited in the lane
to steal her purse and bread and meat

He grabbed her bag and pulled a lot
so granny called her old dog Scot
Scot knew how to sit and beg
and bite a robber on the leg
and so he did the good brave Scot

Then granny found her mobile phone
which had a tweety-tweety tone
She rang policemen who came quick
and took the robber to The Nick
She shared her meat with good brave Scot
- the bread she had to eat alone
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Granny and Scot at the Seaside

2007-11-14T13:31:00.000-08:00

Granny wobbled off one day
to see the seaside far away
Her bicycle was oiled and clean
A really shiny green machine

She took a compass and a map
a book to read and in the gap
between them all and feeling hot
she carried too her good dog Scot

In the basket at the back
she carried wellies and a mac
some sandwiches of cheese and jam
and for her good dog Scot some lamb

At mid-day Granny reached the beach
and out jumped Scot so he could reach
the sea to bark at every wave
The good dog Scot was very brave

He paddled in the shallow sea
and he was happy as can be
whilst Granny sat and read her book
And when he barked she turned to look

She paddled in the sea as well
and Scot was pleased and ran to tell
a bird which ran along the shore
It flew away He barked once more

Then Scot did 'Swimming for a stick'
which Granny threw for him and 'Kick
the ball and fetch it back' til he
was happy tired and so was she

They ate the sandwiches and lamb
and Scot had milk and bits of jam
which Granny shared as she drank tea
then packed their things and left the sea

Scot sat alert as they went back
to keep my Granny from attack
by bears and wolves and dogs and cars
They cycled home with moon and stars

And when they reached my Granny's door
and Scot was on his feet once more
Granny said "We'll go back soon
I like to ride with stars and moon"

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Granny shopping

2007-11-14T13:30:00.000-08:00

Granny rides a bicycle
It wobbles on the road
She rides it to the shops a bit
and comes back with a load
of bread and milk and cheese and rice
a book and biscuits she thinks nice

They're in a basket on the back
She puffs and pants a lot
cause in the basket on the front
she carries her dog Scot
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Elaine's Mother

2007-11-14T13:27:00.000-08:00

Elaine
who was sometimes my friend
lived on the main London Road
on our way to school
near Canada Gardens

She lived in a private house
Not in a Council house like us
It was a big houseand looked very smart

Elaine's mother bought fish on Fridays
from the fish van man
who parked in the road
just outside their house

She would come out with her purse
She was still in her dressing gown
with a scarf over her curlers
and her fluffy slippers on

My mother was very shocked and said
On the main London Road..
in broad daylight too..
Not even dressed at quarter to nine
and her in a posh house..

Lots of other mothers were shocked as well
but Elaine was sometimes my friend
and Mary played with her as well

I thought Elaine's mother was very brave

Anyway her dressing gown did touch her slippers
so it was even longer than her dress
We didn't see her in her dress very much
but we used to watch for her on Fridays
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Dragon Lady

2007-11-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

I am the Dragon lady
and I fight dragons

When they roar at me
when they threaten to hurt me
when they breathe their flames at me
I look at them

When I look at them
it makes me angry that they should threaten me
so I wrap them all around with words
round and round and round and round and round

They struggle with their own words
but mine are better braver bolder and more numerous

Dragons I say to the dragons
Dragons must be goodDragons must not threaten me
Dragons must not frighten me
Dragons will not frighten me
Dragons will not threaten me
Dragons will be good
and so they are
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Chicken Feather

2007-11-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

If a chicken's feather coat
keeps a chicken cool in summer
keeps a chicken dry in rain
keeps a chicken warm in winter
keeps a chicken looking pretty prettyall year round
where did a chicken learnto grow such an amazing coat?
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A Real Story

2007-11-14T11:14:00.000-08:00

At school I struggledwith the little words
Then I struggledwith the bigger words
Then I looked atall the words together
They were all words

I took a deep breath
There were lots of words
All on the same page

I started at the first word
and read all the wordsuntil I came to the dot.
That meant you had to stop

The first word after the dot
led to the second word after the dot

The third word after the dot
led to the fourth and then
the fifth and sixth word

After the seventh word
there was another dot.
I knew you had to stop

I looked up to tell Miss
She was busy at the front of the class

So on I went
over the page
on and on and on

It was a story
A real story
and I could read it

When I got to the end
of four pages
I rushed up to the front
"Miss Miss It's a real story
It's about this girl and this boy
It's a storyI'm reading a story"

And Miss smiled
and said "Carry on"
So I did
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