Poetry

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I have always loved writing poetry - a poem I wrote as a child has been included in a Macmillan Christmas anthology, and I published poems before I started writing stories. My poems have appeared in anthologies for publishers including Bloomsbury, Candlestick Press, Macmillan, Scholastic, Collins Children's Books, Oxford University Press and A&C Black. My new poem Good Moon, Bad Moon will be published in the Otter-Barry Books anthology Moonstruck! in June.

I have also written poems for Pearson educational publishers.

My mini eBooks One Week of Christmas Poems, One Week of Dinosaur Poems, One week of Nature Poems, One Week of Space Poems, One Week of Football Poems, One Week of Spooky Poems and One Week of Seaside Poems are available on Amazon Kindle. The first six books in the series are also gathered together in the One Week of Poems Omnibus.

Here are a couple of poems. I'll change them every now and then so come back to see what's new.

THE PERFECT PLANET SUPERSTORE

“If you want to buy a planet
You have found the perfect place.
You won’t get a better bargain
In the whole of outer space.

Little Mercury’s good value:
Not too big, in tasteful grey.
Night-times can be rather chilly,
But it’s toasty warm by day.

If you want it even warmer,
Venus might be worth a shot.
It’s a real volcanic planet,
And it’s super-sizzling hot.

If you’re looking for volcanoes,
Mars can boast the biggest one,
And its climate’s more... refreshing,
As it’s further from the sun.

If you want more for you money,
Here’s the biggest one we’ve got:
It’s the massive, gassy Jupiter,
Complete with bright red spot,

While the second biggest, Saturn,
Has the most dramatic rings,
And it comes with lots of moons
If you’ve a liking for such things.

Icy Neptune and Uranus
Come in lovely shades of blue,
And are both extremely windy
If a breeze appeals to you.”

“What about that blue-green planet,
With the swirling wisps of white,
That you popped behind the counter,
Trying to keep it out of sight?”

“Ah, that planet’s very special,
It has forests full of trees,
It has rain and wind and sunshine,
It has rivers lakes and seas.

For the cold bits aren’t too chilly,
And the hot bits aren’t too hot,
And it comes complete with orbit
In a perfect sunny spot.

It is bursting full of treasures
Of incalculable worth.
It’s the superstar of planets,
Living, breathing Planet Earth!

If you really want to have it
You must promise to take care,
For we haven’t found another
Planet like it anywhere.

Pop it gently in your trolley,
Don’t forget its little moon,
And I’m sure you’ll be delighted
With your purchase.

Come back soon!”

THE WISDOM OF THE SNAIL

The ants all complain that I'm terribly slow,
But I haven't got anywhere urgent to go.
I like noticing things as I glide on my slime,
And I don't see a problem with taking my time.
I like watching the sunlight that falls on a leaf,
And the pattern of dapples that dances beneath,
And the puddle of shade, with its coolness and calm,
Where a snail can breathe easily, hidden from harm.

So I don't understand why the ants seem to need
To go scurrying round at a dizzying speed,
And I like to stay perfectly still as they pass,
Just enjoying the soft, springy feel of the grass,
And the delicate breath of the breeze as it glides
From my tickle-proof shell to my sensitive sides,
And the silvery sheen of the pale morning light,
Long before it gets glary and scary and bright.

So my message is this: do not dash on your way,
Stop to look at a leaf, smell a flower every day.
Yes, the thing that I always find works, without fail,
Is slow down, smell the grass, feel the breeze...

Be a snail!