What a special treat to have my email box fill to the brim with poems inspired by Margaret Mahy books. It was extra hard picking poems to post as this is the LAST challenge of the year. There were so many TREMENDOUS poems!
I loved the way Gemma used titles of Margaret’s books to make a poem.
I loved the way Daniel made an acrostic poem to sing the praises of Margaret.
I loved the way you all got your imaginations bouncing and your words leaping.
And I loved the Tom was so inspired he wrote 5 poems- I can tell he loves playing with words and making poems.
Because I love sharing poetry books around, I am sending Chloe a copy of The Treasury of NZ Poems for Children.
It was a treat to read all the poems you sent – thank you so much! I will do a few more posts this year before I put Poetry Box to sleep for the holidays.
It was a big LOVELY coincidence but The NZ Herald is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Margaret Mahy’s The Lion in the Meadow and invited me to write a wee story about what the boy was doing now he had grown up. It will be in the Herald’s Christmas Books feature on Saturday 8th December.
t h e p o e m s
Margaret Mahy
M aster of writing, you were
A lways entertaining us with such
R idiculous words from a remarkably
G ifted author
A ll ages adored your books and
R aucous rumbustifications as you
E encouraged us all
T o keep reading
M agical imaginator, you were
A ddicted to creating, and it will always be
H ard not to love your stories, as
Y ou were one of the greatest writers of all time
Daniel L Age 10, Year 5, Adventure School
Discombobulated
Aunt Nasty…
There’s a King in the Cupboard
And a Lion in the Meadow!
Dashing Dogs!
It sounds like a Villain’s Night out…
The Tricksters!
The Seven Chinese Brothers
Can take the Underrunners
To the Green Bath
But what about the Witch in The Cherry Tree
The Three Legged cat
And the Great White Man Eating Shark?
The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate
Can take them to the Door in the Air
So they can start Making Friends
I think they are planning The Great Millionaire Kidnap
With the Pirate Uncle
And the Word witch!
Then we shall hide Down the Back of the Chair
And listen for Footsteps in the Fog
Until A Summery Saturday morning
And we will use the Dragon’s Telephone
To call the Good Fortunes Gang
To rescue us from this Horrendous Hullabaloo!
Gemma, Y8 Adventure School
Saturday Morning
On a Saturday morning I lay in bed, not wanting to get up
On a Saturday morning I read a book in bed, not wanting to get up
On a Saturday morning my Mum comes in, telling me to get up
On a Saturday morning I have Weetbix and toast, wishing that I hadn’t got up
On a Saturday morning I get dressed in my rugby clothes, reminding me why I got up
On a Saturday morning I get in the car with my Dad, who also had to get up
On a Saturday morning I arrive at my rugby game and see my friends, which is one of the reasons I got up
On a Saturday morning I score a try in rugby
I’m really happy I got up.
William F, age 11, Year 6, Ilam School, Christchurch.
Mother Pirate
My mother pirate
sleeps all day
wearing black boots
I call her queenfisher
She doesn’t like it
so she says to me
“you quacky duck”
and that’s my mum
Chloe W Age: 7 Ilam School
BLACKBERRY JAM
My Mother was a wonderful baker
She could bake all sorts of stuff
Biscuits, cakes, breads, slices
She was a master
But my favourite was her jam
Blackberry Jam
Sweet, syrupy stuff
Bread’s best friend.
Lachlan F age 11, Year 6, Ilam School, Christchurch.
Down the Back of the Chair
The chair, the chair,
Held riches and wealth
For many a year,
Without a person finding out.
He let them suffer,
He let them weep
He let them have nights with no sleep.
The poor family were at their end,
The father was driven round the bend.
Just as they were about to give up,
The chair erupted with all sorts of stuff.
Finally, the family could breathe again.
The chair had saved their lives.
By Eva M Karaka Room Royal Oak Primary School
The Bubble in the Wind
The bubble in the wind
flies gently by.
Over the trees
and into the sky.
Inside the clouds
the bubbles flies.
Into the wind
the bubble cries.
Next to a bird
who nips it flat,
and flies to the ground
with a great big SPLAT!
Christina S Age 6 Ilam School
Fruit Salad Flying
(After Margaret Mahy’s Down the Dragon’s Tongue)
Swizz, swoosh
Higher and higher
Whizz, whoosh
Warm and slippery
Thud
Fruit salad flying
Olivia L Age: 12 Year: 7 Selwyn House School
The Boy With Two Shadows
Footsteps rattling the sides of the concrete
Cracks splitting in the light
The delicate patter of a toddler’s step
A little boy’s walking alone
Swollen misshapen, two shadow swerve
Extraterrestrial shape
Two shadows based exactly the same
Sucked in by a little boy’s foot
The boy’s shadows dance and sway in the light
Both ugly, dark and small
The boy’s timid expression remains frozen
But the shadows duck and hide with a grin
The boy causes a stir as he walks down the lane,
Avoiding cracks at all costs
His two followers melt behind him softly,
Until all is left is a boy who once had two shadows
Sylvie King Age: 12 Selwyn House School
My Nan Sells Jam
Every morning she walks outside to smell the country air, she feeds the chickens then the horses and the spring lambs
Then she walks to her most treasured living creature
Her plum tree
She walks over and studies the condition of the plums then picks them
And puts then in her best woven basket
She walks back inside and mashes them together
and puts them in a jars.
Nan then will walk out onto the road with a table her jam and a country mag and set up a stand with her jam
Sometimes her stand with jam is busy sometimes it’s not
But my nan will always tell you one thing “I will never lose my love for plum jam”
Phoebe James 10 years old Year 5 Selwyn House School
The Santa Snail – After Margaret Mahy
Santa Snail walking running, you never know
Santa Snail curled up tight in his shell
Warm and cosy in his shell buried in the snow
A Santa Snail works all night long
Pulling his sleigh
With presents for other snails.
Mia D Age: 10 Year: 5 Selwyn House School
Mother Pirate
The woman who was a pirate,
Was fussy as can be.
Randomly, she sailed to sea,
Just to see the queen bee.
As greedy as a honey bear,
She then turned into the mountain deer!
Don’t look her in the eye,
Or you’ll be sorry!
Reham Y, Age 9, Year 5, Fendalton School
A Lion in the meadow
aahhh aahhh aahhh
The lion is stuck in tar.
Good, first I put a cage
over him.
His age is 7!
Oh no get the hose
splash!
Good, the tar is gone.
Let’s let him go
Wait! Let’s name him
Ahh um aha
Patrick!
Great idea.
Now let’s let him go
Ok bye Patrick!
Jonny A, age 6, from Ilam School
Milk In The Library
A cow walked into the library
To read a book on grass
She had a little accident and
Flooded the library with milk
Drenching books
Smudging ink
Wrecking leather
Milky mayhem in the library
Don’t open the door!
Finlay T Age 8, Year 3 Ilam Primary
The lion in the meadow
The lion in the meadow gives a mighty roar
And then the mice run all along the floor
The lion jumps and I start to flee
While the lion laughs at me in glee
The lion makes a terrible sound
And I drop in fright to the ground
The lion runs
And I get stunned
Bye, lion!
By Josie P, age 7, Year 2, Ilam School, Christchurch
The Witch in the Cherry Tree
The noise echoed through the silent house,
I walked to the window,
Somebody was there,
In the tree,
I rushed to the other bedroom,
I joined my parents to gaze at the witch in the cherry tree.
Ruby T Age 10, Year 6 Ilam School
And to finish up FIVE magnificent poems by TOM
Lion in the Light
Father father what was that?
Hush my son only the lion
(scratchy-meaty ever so beefy)
out in the shed.
Father father what was that?
Hush my son only the lion
(purry-furry ever so roary)
out in the garden.
Father father what was that?
Hush my son only the lion
(shocking-rocking ever so coughing)
out on the deck.
Father father what was that?
Hush my son only the lion
(breaky-achy ever so wakey)
out in the kitchen.
Father father what was that?
Hush my son only the lion
Lighty-bitey ever so mighty)
down in your bedroom.
Corn Trouble
There is trouble in the corn field.
The magpies crunch for brunch
crunchy and brunchy til the dawn
opens the mouth of corn
and pop-pop-pop, the corn does drop.
There is trouble in the corn field.
There is popcorn on the road.
There is popcorn in the garden
and pop-pop-pop, the corn does drop.
There’s no trouble in the corn field.
All the corn is on the ground.
The magpies have sailed
in a river of popcorn.
There’s no more corn to drop.
The Boy with Two Shadows
I am here
but cannot be seen.
You will never know
where I take steps
or strike. You will
never know, where I’ve been.
I am there
but not here.
You will never know
where I am.
You can touch me
and I’ll disappear.
The boy looks at his shadow
In the sun
And realises he has two!
What will he do?
The Margaret Mahy Jelly Playground
There was a green can
of jelly in the supermarket.
Every customer walked past
and never bought him.
This left him lonely.
So one night he dropped
off his shelf.
His can burst open.
All at once the supermarket
was a green jelly playground,
With slides, swings
and a water factory.
This became known
as the Margaret Mahy Jelly playground,
where the children of New Zealand
could play safely for ever,
ever, ever and ever.
The Burger Burglar
The Burglar could never
resist stealing burgers.
Cheese and sour cream,
bacon, beef and onion,
pineapple and corn.
At night he broke
into houses to steal
only burger stuff.
He only left sauce trails.
A detective followed
the trail of sauce,
and caught him.
It turned out
he only stole burger stuff,
because he wanted
to make friends.
Tom N Age 10 Year 5 Hoon Hay School/Te Kura Koaka
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