Poetry for Children

I wrote this poem a year or so ago, when I began my Writing Stories for Children Course, at the New Zealand Institute of Business Studies. I reconnected with my childhood love, of writing in rhyme, and I longed to write stories and poetry, like my heroines Margaret Mahy and Lynley Dodds (Hairy Mclary from Donaldson's Dairy) and of course, the fabulous Dr Seuss. Perhaps I should have a separate blog for children's poems, once I get into the swing and rhythm of it. But for now, here is a poem, I wrote for children ... the first verse just seemed to 'spring out of nowhere,' the rest became a 'labour of love!'  Read it to your children and tell me it they like it. Please! I would love to see it illustrated, and bring the words to life.

Living in my Garden


Living in my garden is a little brown hare
If you watch and listen carefully, he doesn’t know you’re there.
He nibbles on the cabbages, bites holes in all the lettuces,
What a naughty hare he is, to dine upon our radishes.

Living in my garden is a shiny little snail,
And everywhere he goes, he leaves a slimy trail.
He slimes up on the garden wall, then slimes along the top,
Then pops his head into his shell when he wants to stop.

Living in my garden is a wriggly little worm,
If I touch him with my finger he makes me want to squirm,
I’d like to say hello, but I just can’t catch his eye,
Which end is which? I do not know,
So I let him wriggle by.

Living in my garden is a shaggy scarecrow,
He leans upon his rake, and is propped up with a hoe.
Every now and then, I stuff him full of hay,
It must be nice to be a scarecrow, just standing round all day.