May & June 2020
Vol V No III
Not your ordinary poetry magazine!
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Published bi-monthly
Poetry for Children
with Robert Schechter
Albatross
If I were an albatross,
I would share my anger with the wind,
drop my sadness into the depths of the valleys
and let my emptiness float above the trees.
If I were an albatross,
I would let my worries slip from the tips of my wings,
leave my loneliness to slide from the curve of my beak
and wonder at the wild of the water below.
If I were an albatross,
I would soar above the Antarctic sea
and leave all the mess of moving home, moving school,
and Dad leaving, behind me.
Everyone
Everyone here is a winner at sport,
scoring goals when their eyes are shut tight.
Everyone here has expensive new shoes
that are polished — and never too tight.
Everyone here has a house full of books
and reads one in bed every night.
Everyone here has adventurous trips,
to places that I’ve never seen.
Everyone here has gazillions of friends,
and brothers who’ve never been mean.
Everyone here is clever and thin
and their uniform’s ironed and clean.
Everyone here has a whopping great house,
with chocolates and sweets guaranteed.
Everyone here lives a life without sad,
a life full of trips to the sea.
Everyone here has a mum and a dad.
Everyone here, except me.
Laura Mucha is an award-winning poet, author and performer. Her debut book, Love Understood, was published last year, and her debut poetry collection, Dear Ugly Sisters, is due out in August. You can read and listen to more of her work at lauramucha.com.
The Pigs Are On A Pirate Ship
The pigs are on a pirate ship.
The sheep are baking bread.
The horses and the baby chicks
are jumping on a bed.
The bulls are in a bubble bath.
The cows are playing bridge.
I’m glad my parents purchased
all these magnets for our fridge!
Grounded
My mom and dad shouted, “YOU’RE GROUNDED FOR LIFE!
Now why would you butter your cat with a knife?”
I said I was sorry. “I’m such a buffoon.
From now on I’ll butter my cat with a spoon!”
Darren Sardelli is an award-winning poet and children’s book author. His poems are published in 23 children’s books in the U.S and U.K., as well as dozens of textbooks (worldwide.) For more information on this fascinating poet, please visit www.laughalotpoetry.com.
Advice from the Field
In building a house of modest estate,
Abode for the mousy, not for the great,
Be prim as a mouse is, selecting her lot;
No good to build a house in a trouble spot.
Mice find it best to make like a mole:
If short a nest, inhabit a hole.
Bottom Drawer
My bottom drawer, you see—
Unlike the other three
That store my shirts and socks—
The bottom hides smooth rocks
I gathered by the shore—
And oak leaves by the score
Sprawl yellow over yarn
I squirreled from a barn—
And last, a feather from a jay
I kneel to look at twice a day.
Both poems were first published in A Poem Is a Chameleon.
Steven Withrow is a poet, storyteller, teacher, and journalist from Falmouth, Massachusetts. His poems appear in journals and anthologies worldwide.
A Prickly Pair
Dear Miss Echidna,
Permit me to say,
I secretly love you to pieces.
Whenever I spy your adorable spines,
I swoon and my heart rate increases.
I love how you nimbly maneuver your snout
to snuffle a termite or worm,
and then how you flick out your long, sticky tongue
and guzzle them down as they squirm.
But why do you curl in a tight, spiky ball
or wobble away when I’m near?
Could it be my patchwork appearance you loathe
or my gurgling growl that you fear?
Dear Mr. Platypus,
I must confess,
your odd little features are sweet.
I cherish the sound of your wet, phlegmy grunt,
but flee from your venomous feet.
Dear Miss Echidna,
I think you’ll be pleased
the next time you waddle my way.
I purchased a pair of impervious boots —
they’re being delivered today.
Dear Platty,
I’ll meet you at Dingo’s Café.
We’ll nibble on larvae and newts.
Our dinner will be a romantic affair,
as long as you’re wearing your boots!
Randi Sonenshine is a children’s author and literacy coach. Her debut picture book, The Nest That Wren Built, was released in March, 2020 from Candlewick Press. To learn more about Randi, visit her website at http://www.randisonenshine.com.