Spot

I've got a little spot upon
My shiny little nose,
I'd like it to get smaller
But it grows and grows and grows.
I don't know what to do with it,
Should I cover it or what?
Oh how can I get rid of
My nasty little spot.

Up to you

That was it from me this time,
So now it's up to you,
Where do you want to go?
What do you want to do?
Why not write a little verse,
About something that you like,
About your favourite sandwiches,
Or perhaps your favourite bike.

Why not write a poem that
Can make somebody smile?
Or one that makes them think a bit
Just for a little while?
Or why not write a story
From whatever's in your head?
Or write a silly word or two
About something that you've read

No matter what it is you write
I'm sure it will be good,
If you decide just what to say
And say it like you should,
So open up your head,
And then open up your mind,
And write a little something
About the strangest thing you find.

So where do you want to go?
What do you want to do?
That was it from me this time,
The rest is up to you.

A ghost I am.

My heart is made of leather,
My head is made of sand,
My arms are put together,
Like a strange elastic band.
And when I try to speak,
I jumble up my words
And all my thoughts they fly away,
On the back of flying birds.

I haven't got a place to sleep
So I lie awake at night,
Or wander round your house alone
Waiting to give a fright
Yes it's true that I'm quite scary,
And I'm never, ever kind
I'm horrible and hairy
I'm the worst thing you could hind.

And when I'm feeling hungry
I nibble children's toes
Or cut them up and mix them
With the bogeys from my nose.
Yes, I'm a ghost, a ghost I am
But I won't give you a fright
Unless that is you wake up
In the middle of the night

From the Bailey

From the Bailey to the Barbican
In the battlements they wait
They peek out of the Lancet
And they stand guard at the gate.
In the turrets and the towers
On palisade and parapet
The archers are preparing
For the targets they will get.

Beyond the stinking filthy moat,
The enemies advance
With Trebuchet and battle axe
With Armour, shield and lance.
They all seem to outnumber us
In chain mail and brigandine
With siege engine, hook and tower,
The like we've never seen.

Yes we know that trouble's coming,
And are well prepared to fight
The portcullis and draw bridge
Have both been closed up tight.
We hear their drums approaching,
We pray that we will win,
For soon enough the fighting
And the battle will begin.

Circle

Reading Books

Inside each book there is a world,
Between the letters it's been curled.

And when you read that book with me,
That world comes out for us to see.

Then you and I can travel there,
And in this world we both can share.

So come and sit with me a while,
Please read for me and make me smile.

Let's open up
And take a look,
Inside this magic,
Reading book.

The Friend Ship.

The Friend Ship sails upon the sea
And makes us smile my friends and me,

We laugh and joke and mess about,
We run and jump and scream and shout,

The Friend Ship is a happy place
And I see smiles on every face,

But you know,
I really think,
That without my friends,
This ship would sink.

The Monster Box.

Inside the monster box
There are creatures rough and mean,
There's things that are much scarier
Than anyone's ever seen.
There's evil iguanas,
And there's dogs the size of trees,
There's molten lava leprechauns
With dragons on their knees.
There's squirrels that were born in hell,
And snakes the size of roads,
And diamond spotted liverquakes,
That feast on poisoned toads.
There's munching crunching Oggletoggs,
That gobble children up
There's hairy spotted spiders,
That are hiding in a cup.

When the monster box is open
All your nightmares come to life
The gremlin's sharp and terrible teeth,
They cut you like a knife.
And magic vines they tie you up
And hang you by your toes
And burning fire beetle moths
Put earwigs in your nose
And all the while you try to scream
But you just can't make a sound
As stinging wasps they lock you up
In a box beneath the ground.
The monster box, the monster box,
So much bigger than it seems
It looks quite small from outside,
But inside it's big as dreams.

I'd like to open up the box
And let these creatures out,
And then I'd like to watch you all
Run round and scream and shout.
But sadly, sadly, sadly
There's nothing I can do
Although I'd like to scare the
Living daylights out of you.
Because when I left my house today
I found the monster box
(It was where I always keep it
In a bag of dirty sock.)
But sadly, sadly, sadly,
As sad as sad can be,
Although I found the monster box...
I couldn't find the key.

Lighter than a feather.

Lighter than a feather, light as bright as white,
Bound up all together with the stars that shine at night.
The moon is not a mirror but it does reflect the sun
And all the light around the world reflects in everyone.

Yet still there are some places that light has never been,
Fish in deepest oceans that light has never seen.
And far off out in outer-space there's nothing light can hit,
And so the air seems dark as dark as though it were unlit.

And also in another place I know there's light but none,
Inside this little head of mine where all light is undone.
I close my eyes and I can see a world that's filled and bright,
And every thought and memory is light as bright as white.

But there's no windows in my skull my eyes don't let light in
They just connect my optic nerve to where all lights begin.
So in my head, although it's dark, I still see things so clear,
It makes me wonder if it's true and are they really here?

The things I see, the things I see, inside my darkened head,
Why can I see them there at all, and not just dark instead?

Awake.

Let's just stay awake tonight,
Me and you in bed,
I've forgotten how to sleep,
So let's keep awake instead.

Let's not even close our eyes,
And let's not just relax,
Let's not let both our brains turn off,
While thinking of some facts,

Let's not just lie there dreaming
Let's not follow a thought,
Let's not just lie there thinking,
Of the thought fish we have caught.

So let's not sleep at all tonight,
Let's not even close our eyes,
Let's not think of flying,
High up in the skies.

Let's lie in bed and wide awake
And wide awake let's keep.
And then I bet that suddenly,
We'll both be fast asleep.

The Gorgon and the Minotaur.

The gorgon and the minotaur
Were sitting down to eat
When suddenly the minotaur
Began to tap his feet.
He stood up and he gave a bow
He grabbed a violin,
And round and round the labyrinth
They both began to spin.

The gorgon's snaky hairs they sang,
To the tune that Mino played
They all did so much wiggling
That they ended in a braid.
But the gorgon and the minotaur
They danced for over and hour,
Until they both began to smell
And both needed a shower.

The gorgon and the minotaur
They kept up with the dance
And all around the labyrinth
They continued to prance
Until suddenly the music stopped,
And the gorgon stood alone,
For the minotour had looked at her
And been turned into stone.

The sounds I love

The sounds I love, the sounds I love,
I love them all you know,
I love to hear the rain
Or hear the silence of the snow,
I love to hear a happy laugh
I love when music's loud
I love to hear the roar and cheer
Of a happy football crowd.

The sounds I love, the sounds I love,
Around me everyday,
The noise of pouring water,
Or the music that I play,
The sound of drummers beating,
Or lego in a box,
Or late at night when I'm awake,
The barking of a fox.

The sounds I love, the sounds I love,
Don't you just love them too?
Or what of all the sounds we have,
Are the ones loved most by you?
And do you have a favourite?
Because I have one you see,
My little sister's footsteps,
When she comes running up to me.

Silent Poem

I'm going to write a poem,
Without a single sound,
No onomatopeia,
No words that I have found.

I will not say the word,
That's spelt B A N G
And will not let you hear the sounds
I have inside of me.

No CRASH BANG WALLOP
No SMASH BONG BING
No silly, silly noises
That just don't mean a thing

I will not say GAZINGA
Or shout BALINGAPOOP
Nor will I stand up on a chair
And scream WALLANGABOOP!

I will not go crazy
And start marching round the room,
Shouting in my loudest voice,
CALAMATY BOOM BOOM

No I do not like such silly things
I'm serious you know
And if anyone starts being silly,
Then I think it's time to go.

The light and dark.

I have one hand it cannot clap
All it does is fall and flap.
But when one hand it turns to two
Then clap I can, and clap I do.
I can play tennis on my own
But that's just stupid all alone
And tennis is so much more fun
When you can play against someone

A candle burning gives off light
That best can be seen in the night
If candles just burn in the day
Then sunlight lights their light away.

A rainy day though not much fun,
Helps us be thankful for the sun.
For in life it’s opposing things
That give us joy and give us wings

I am an Athenian.

I am an Athenian,
I live in ancient Greece
The land of great Odysseus
And Jason's Golden Fleece.

When you look back through history
I'm sure you'll quickly see
That your world would not be the same,
If it hadn't been for me.

We gave you your democracy,
In the Acropolis we met,
Or went into the parthenon,
The oracle's words to get.

We have Sophocles and Socrates
And Plato's thinking taught
And all of them have changed the way
That all of you have thought.

We were first to run a marathon
Or hold Olympic games
Think of all the famous Athletes
And all their famous names.

We gave you mathematics
Fantastic stories too
So many things we started
And left here just for you.

So when you think about your world,
And when your teacher speaks,
Remember the Athenian,
And all the ancient Greeks.

I am a rolling river.

I am a rolling river
And I come from far away,
I've been flowing through this channel
Every night and every day.

Attrition and erosion and
Abrasion all so strong,
They wear away the banks and bed
As I keep rolling on.

Sometimes when there's a confluence
I meet up with my friend
And then we go meandering
Around bend after bend.

Deposition and an Ox bow lake,
We leave them far behind
As we rush towards the estuary
The salty sea to find.

A stream and then a river
Until I get back to the sea,
Where all the rivers of the world
Are travelling to be.

Doctor, doctor!

Doctor, doctor
Help me quick
You see I'm feeling very sick,
My skin is green
And shiny too,
And my tongue feels
Just as big,
As you.
My eyes they bulge,
My hair is gone
I walk around
With nothing on.
My legs have grown,
And when I hop
I jump so hard
I just can't stop.

I feel like croaking
On a log,
I think I've turned,
Into a frog.

Sir Francis Drake

Well Francis Drake was a very great sailor
He sailed across the oceans wide
He used the stars for navigation
And knew all about the winds and tide.

So much gold and so much silver
More than any man has seen,
He took from those who first had stole it
And brought it back to the British Queen.

So pleased was she with all his efforts
And all the treasures he gave to her
She honoured him with a royal knighthood.
From then on he was known as 'Sir'.

That great man Drake a life at sea,
In tiny boats on a raging tide
No doubt that he was born for sailing,
From his childhood till the day he died

Sir Francis Drake whom the Spanish hated,
Because he always managed to flee,
A privateer every remembered,
Buried far off out at sea..

Explorer Box.

I've got a little explorer box,
That used to be filled up with sock,
But when I put it on my head,
It takes me somewhere new.

I've been to many far off lands
Of frosty winds and golden sands
Held priceless jewels in my hand
That made me think of you.

I've been beneath the stormy seas,
And climbed with monkeys up in trees,
Floated on a summer's breeze,
With diamonds in my shoe

Yes, you can see it in my face,
That I've explored the moon and space
And on the earth been every place,
But I'd like to take you too.

So please, please come along with me,
And tell me what you'd like to see,
When we put our heads inside my box
That used to be filled up with socks.

In Stone Age times...

In Stone Age times there were no phones,
But they had flint and great big stones...
There were no supermarkets yet,
No cash machines or internet,
No motor cars, no trips to mars,
No ipads and no chocolate bars.

And isn't it quite strange to think,
No stone aged man tried fizzy drink?
And none of them would ever have seen,

A hoover or a TV screen.
And stone aged man he never saw,

A milkshake or a sliding door,
Electric lights or satellites,
Bicycles or flying kites,
And he'd never heard of football teams
Or tasted Big Macs or ice creams

And don't you think it would have hurt his brain
If he'd seen an aeroplane?

Or watched someone blow up a balloon,
Or knew that men walked on the moon?

Oh what would you think?
Oh what would you think?
What would you, what would you,
What would you think.

If all of us here now,
Could travel back in time somehow.
And what do you think you would miss most then,
If we lived in the age of stone aged men?

Ogg

A stone age man whose name was Ogg,
Was the first to train a dog.
He taught him how to hunt and walk
Then tried to teach him how to talk.

But as you know, and books they tell,
Dogs do not talk so very well.
So poor old Ogg was bound to fail...
The dog did nothing but wag his tail.

Yet still the dog and Ogg were good,
Their friendship worked out as it should.
The dog learnt how to hunt and fight
And kept guard over Ogg at night.

The dog was comfort and a friend
So much so that in the end.
All those that saw the great man Ogg,
Went out and got themselves a dog.

So now when you walk in the street,
And see a dog at someone's feet.
Then spare a thought for good old Ogg,
The first man ever to train a dog.