We are going to learn

We are going to learn
how to be respectful
and inclusive
(says Ruby).

We are also going to learn
how to catch and kill bad stuff
like white tailed spiders
because we are playing school.

So if you have been inclusive
put up your hand
and we'll put your name
on this chart.

Very good, pink teddy bear!
I'm very proud of you.
You'll have a tick
for your name.

You are 65
so you are going up
to the highest level.
You are going to the Kiwi class.

The god of mud

We don't want anybody dying
(says Ruby)
because the people get sad
and make a noise --
"Oh, oh, oh, we want granddad!"

The god of mud kills people
when they need to be killed.
She eats them
then spits them out.

And if she didn't kill people
she'd be sad because
she'd have nothing to do.
So that's why she kills people.

I'll draw her for you.
The god is a giant,
curly hair, ears, earrings.
She's a stick person and an island.

She's got a person in her mouth
(not happy) and she spits her out.
The person looks like a normal person
but her vagiva is gone

and her eyeballs fall out
into the god's mouth.
She goes chew, chew, chew.
She is a horrible, horrible, horrible god.

A cold teabag

A cold teabag on a sore eye feels good
(says Ruby at WOMAD).
A cold mermaid on the eye
feels good too.

Is this where crocodiles live?
Remember I'm here to protect you.
My job is to keep you protected
from bad things.

So many people!
Too many people to count.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 —
up to the last human number!

She poisons people

Hannah is not my friend any more
because she poisons people
(says Ruby)
and punches people
and sneaks up behind them and
poisons them.

So that's a yukky person
and I don't want to see her any more.

Hannah my friend has poisoned the queen
'cos she wants to be queen.
We have to save the queen.
We have to save her with the flower,
the light of the flower.
That's the only thing
that will save her.

The pollen absorbs
the sickness and poison
and the person
comes alive again.

And water can wash the pollen out.
The water stays
because water is good for you
and can keep you alive.

Oh no! Not again! Do you know what?
She's poisoned everybody now
except for us. How could she?
That is not acceptable.
That is not suitable.

Police 111. I need you
to put someone in jail.

Eggs are very powerful too

Eggs are very powerful too
(says Ruby).

They can stop anything
that comes into the same bowl.

Then you can mix it in
and it realises
it's a nice thing
that can't do any harm.

It's best to look out of the window

It's best to look out of the window
(says Ruby)
when you're thinking.

Because that helps.
That helps a lot.

Do you know why my voice is pretty?

Do you know why my voice is pretty?
(says Ruby, after the grommets go in).

Little pieces of apple skin
got stuck inside my ears
and that makes it very hard
to tell if you are shouting.

The words catch on the apple skin
but the words have to go down a tube
and get inside your head
because that's where you hear them
properly.

That's why I couldn't hear well.
That's why I needed to shout.
The doctor took out the apple skin.
That's how I found my pretty voice
the voice I am using today.

What to do with Kyoko

I know!
(says Ruby)
First we can dress her.
Then we can admire her.
Then we can undress her.
Then we can show Mumma
how to dress her again.

Your life

Your life shines
like a lemon
in leaves.

Your life speaks
commandments
through stone.

Your life stands
a sun dial
for puzzled souls.

Your life sings
a descant
to the planet's groan.

Your life
wrapped in sacking
pulses on.

Your life goes
where it goes
and has not gone:

A sweet-sour
birth-day
gift for you alone.


(For Diana Neutze on her 70th birthday, bitterly afflicted with MS and its complications, and still finding poetry in the garden.)

Quite right baby

Good fairies gather
around your name.
Our wishes are burdens.
Our wishes are gifts.

We wish you everything—
freckles and fame,
rockets and rocking chairs,
roses in the rain.

You can’t play with everything.
You don’t have time.
You don’t have the space.
You like the wrapping best.

A king among kids
you arrived
with a solid gold Lego set:
some people, some genes,

a city, a smile.
That’s everything.
That’s all you need
for the game.

You’ll make a mighty tower
or a tiny flower—
we don’t care which.
We love you anyway.

You play with the packaging.
Quite right, baby.
You’ll grow into your skin.
You’ll grow into your name.

© Rachel McAlpine 2009, For Hugo

Iceburg Land by Dylan aged 5

One day ice was falling over the land,
One day ice was falling over the land,
Over the iceburg land,
And in there was an ice crazed man,
An ice crazed man.

Yeah!

And the ice bite is ice
And the crack of the ice is the ice man
Ice man cracked on him.

Ha!

(c) Dylan Battersby Gifford, aged 5

I'm a grandmother too

I'm a grandmother too
(says Ruby).

That's my daughter
Anastasia.

She's old enough,
she's grown up.

She's got a baby
and her name's called Annemarie.

Mikaela can't always
come to parties.

At my July party
her grandmother was very sick.

Perhaps she'll die.
I know --

I'll secretly
get that thing.

What to do if you're on fire

If you catch on fire
(says Ruby)
you must stop, drop
and roll on the ground.

You stop your breakfast
or whatever you're doing
and roll on the ground
and the fire goes on to the grass.

A boy at school
fell in love with me.
It's Alwyn.
But don't tell Mum.

I don't know what she'd say.
He's still in love with me
but I don't play with Alwyn
any more.

I've voted twice

I've voted twice
(says Ruby).

The first time there were two people
and I voted for the one in the red top.

The second time there were three people
and I voted for the one in the blue top.

My new job
(and I think I will have it forever)
is Animal Lists.

Where's the jacket?

Where's the jacket
(says Ruby)?

Because it's due to get wet,
because it's supposed to get wet.
A jacket gets dry
but clothes don't.

I'll go out first
'cos I'm smaller than you.
If you have a migraine
we'll have to come back.

Things sometimes go the way we want,
and things sometimes don't.
And if you don't get it,
it's too bad.

Sore legs

The more you get sore legs
(says Ruby)
the more you get energy.

But the problem is
that if you get really bad walks,
you can't walk.
You get sore legs
and that's bad.

You couldn't do that,
no you couldn't do 13s and 14s and 15s,
not 8, 39, 100, 102, 103 walks.

You could go too far,
and people will shout in your ear
and you can never hear again.

The person who waves the arm

The person who waves the arm
(says Ruby,

washing the maneki-neko)
gets to wash the arm.

If they be crumb-washed
they can be new-all.

It means nothing
but it can be a bit of a pain.

You have to push hard
as if you're hurting them

but it's just to wash them
shiny and clean.

Eyeshadow

People come to Eyeshadow
(says Ruby)
to buy invisible monkeys
that don't exist.

And hopefully someone will buy
the bad angry girl-hitting
boy monkey.

It's a different Eyeshadow.
The Number 2 Eyeshadow.

The prescription

Tell you what, Granny

(says Ruby)

What say I write you

a prescription

for some medicine

to stop you forgetting

your friend

is dead.

You must add

your friend's name:

"Pat."

I didn't have someone

I didn't have someone

to play with today

(says Ruby).

But I was a bit happy

because

I didn't have to

go in and out

in and out

out and in.