in minutes it started to freeze.

I got into hot water for fibbing,

the water didn’t tell me a thing,

I threw bread at a tree for a lark

but instead it decided to sing.

I turned up my nose at the dinner,

it stayed like that for a week,

I tried not to be a wet blanket,

but my shoe laces started to leak.

Chrissie Gittins

Pencil World

Pencil World

Your pencil’s amazing,

a magical stick.

It might make anything.

Take your pick:

a house on a hill

or a ship at sea,

a bus full of people,

a picture of me,

a fruit or a flower,

a battered old ball,

elephants, igloos,

anything at all.

Everything’s in it,

tightly curled,

waiting to wake

from pencil world.

Tony Mitton

Bookish

Bookish

They prop open windows; let butterflies in,

and stop doors from slamming in sudden, cold wind.

They help with my balance and make me walk tall.

They’ll increase my height on a chair if I’m small.

I use them to lean on when tables aren’t free

and they’re handy for dinners while watching TV.

They can flatten a rose to a paper keepsake

or hide the right answers in tests that I take.

Pile them like pillows at the end of the bed.

Conversation and pictures held inside my head.

Rachel Rooney

Just a Book?

Just a Book?

It’s a letter in a bottle

bobbing blindly in the sea,

it’s a verdant leaf in summer

hanging halfway up a tree,

it’s a pebble sleeping softly

in a gently flowing brook

but it’s never, no it’s never,

no it’s never just a book.

It’s the topping on your pizza

as it sits upon your plate,

it’s the fish that you’ve been after

as you hook it with your bait,

it’s a cupboard of ingredients

all waiting for the cook

but it’s never, no it’s never,

no it’s never just a book.

It’s a soldier in a battle

as he launches a grenade,

it’s a hunter in a forest

as she sharpens up her blade,

it’s a playmate, it’s a bully,

it’s a policeman, it’s a crook

but it’s never, no it’s never,

no it’s never just a book.

It’s a parcel of ideas,

it’s a package full of tools,

it’s a field full of freedom,

it’s a folder full of rules,

it’s a fancy flight of fantasy

so come and have a look –

see it’s never, no it’s never,

no it’s never just a book!

Joshua Seigal

Today I Read a Bus Stop

Today I Read a Bus Stop

Today I read a bus stop

and then I read a van,

a poster and three carrier bags,

some shop signs and a man

who had a crazy T-shirt on.