Open the window wider
I need to feel the breeze
Let the sadness go,
Let it rain or snow.
Dr. Mark Macleod, a renowned writer and poet from Australia, shares his poems for children
Dr. Mark Macleod is a writer and editor for children, and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University. He has taught Children’s Literature, Australian Literature and Creative Writing at universities in Australia and around the world, most recently in India at Mumbai University and Sikkim University. His publishing career focuses on narrative texts as agents for change. He has been Publishing Director at Random House, Publisher at Hachette Australia, President and Publishing Director of independent picture book publisher Dirt Lane Press, and freelance editor for publishers including Walker Books Australia, University of Queensland Press, Omnibus Books, ABC Books and Queer Ink, India. Mark is well known for his commentary on books for young readers on television, radio and in print media. His current research interests are diversity in narrative for young people, the awareness and teaching of social justice and the adaptation of children’s texts. A former national president of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, and Chair of TasWriters, the writers’ center in Hobart, Tasmania, Mark has won awards for distinguished service to Children’s Literature and for titles published under his own name imprint, Mark Macleod Books. For many years, he was Executive Editor of the journal International Research in Children’s Literature, published by Edinburgh University, and is Executive Editor for Queer Ink, India. In 2023 he convened Storygig, Tasmania’s first festival of storytelling for, about and by young people. Mark is the author of poems for adults and children, and picture books for children. His most recent book is a collection of poems for children, The Secret Boat, illustrated by Hélène Magisson, and published by WestWords in 2023.
OPEN THE WINDOW
Open the window wider
I need to feel the breeze
Let the sadness go,
Let it rain or snow.
Open the window, please!
Open the window wider
Let in the sun and the sky
Let in the sea
And a boat for me
Or a plane that I can fly.
***
DINNERTIME
Crocodile, sliding by,
I can see your eyes
And snout. Crocodile,
Wondering why
There’s no one else about.
Crocodile, just a smile
Floating on the river.
There’s only one swimmer here.
Everyone else is dinner!
***
CIRCLES
Circles are round
And they’re all around us:
The sun in the sky,
The wheels on the bus,
The full moon at night,
A ring on your finger,
The lid from a jar,
A plate for your dinner.
Draw a line in the sand
Round a circle of friends
All holding hands –
The line never ends.
***
THE ONLY ONE
My feet are too big
My chest’s too flat
My nails are too short
My bottom’s too fat
I’ve got a big chin
When I whisper I shout
My legs are thin
And my ears stick out
One tooth’s missing
And it makes me lisp
I’ve tried to whistle –
They’re the wrong shaped lips.
My eyes are light blue
And I would have liked brown
My hair sticks up
When it should stay down
I laugh too loudly
When I’m having fun
There’s no one like me
– I’m the only one.
And that’s why
My friends all love me!
***
ON THE BEACH
Pile your worries into this boat
Then push it out from the shore
Let’s build a castle on the sand
And forget about the war.
We’ll dig a moat around it
To look after all our friends
And if the tide should knock it down
We can build it up again.
***
EYE ON THE BALL
Pitch it
Bowl it
Kick it
Roll it
Dribble, pass and
Slam it in.
Head it
Curve it
Spin it
Serve it.
Keep your eye
On the ball
If you want
To win.
____________
