More Mini-Verses for Boys and Girls
by W.A. Tyler

Each little verse makes an interesting, often humorous point about the subject of the title. Light but intelligent reading for pre-teenage children.
Animal Babies Doggie Puss The Rose Milk
Blackberries Pineapples Bananas A Kiss Ice-Cream
Fair Exchange Hat Spiders The Holiday Vegetables
Pictures Hand-Shake Collage The Reading Kookaburra
Picture Pet Bird Pears Sparrow Magpies
Pebbles
Tyler's Work Australian Fiction Library


ANIMAL BABIES
How pretty are kittens,

Feeding from their mama!

How pretty are puppies

Doing the same!


DOGGIE
When he is excited

The doggie wags his tail.

That way he shows affection,

But he may not he for sale.


PUSS
Old pussie is a smooger,

Who rubs against your leg.

But he can kill birds and mice

And doesn't have to beg.


THE ROSE
A rose is colour,

A rose is smell;

A rose is thorns,.

Remember well


MILK
Cow's milk is for the poddy calves,

But we enjoy it as well,

As a drink, or cream, or yoghurt

Or cheese of all sorts and smell.


BLACKBERRIES
They say the blackberry

Is a weed; but wonderful

To find in the bush,

If it's food you need.


PINEAPPLES
You might think that pineapples

Would grow on a tree.

That they are out of the top

Of a plant, certainly surprised me.


BANANAS
Bananas are very nourishing

And make a hearty meal

Then eaten with bread

And pea-nut-butter — a steal.


A KISS
A kiss shows love,

Sure as Heaven above.

A pleasure to experience,

Especially when from mum.


ICE-CREAM
You scream, I scream

Then really in the soup;

But we enjoy ice-cream,

Alone or in a group.


FAIR EXCHANGE
Your Mum and Dad care for you

Then you are a baby or child.

Then they grow old and frail,

You can look after them.


HAT
A subject's only crown, his hat,

Is useful in all weathers.

It doesn't have gold or gems,

But might include some feathers.


SPIDERS
Spiders seem like fear things,

With nothing to enjoy.

They are cheeky towards people,

like any naughty boy.


THE HOLIDAY
Did you know that holiday

Is a word that comes from holy day,

A religious day of rest

From your work-a-day efforts.


VEGETABLES
Some vegies you enjoy straightaway,

Say potatoes, peas and beans;

Others, such as pumpkin and quash

Get nicer than they at first seem.


PICTURES
Every picture tells a story

Of the life in which we glory.

Still an artist is creative,

Using imagination as well as copying.


HAND-SHAKE
Grip tightly when you shake hands,

To show you really mean it,

Goodwill and pleased

To meet you.


COLLAGE
Cut out from magazines

Some pictures you really like;

Glue them here and there on paper

And you'll make what's called collage.


THE READING
Read all you can,

Just what you fancy,

Whether sad or happy,

Or perhaps romancey.


KOOKABURRA
My how the kookaburra laughs!

Is he amused, or a critic,

laughing at life to mock

The sounds of man and birds?


PICTURE
I made a pattern picture,

Of all the different shades,

So now I have a rainbow scene

Of everyone 's favourite colour.


PET BIRD
When our old pet cockey

Began to hide his head in his

Feathers, we didn't know it

because he was near dying.


PEARS
If pears came in pairs,

They'd be a lot to eat

At once, but all right,

If they were shared.


SPARROW
It would be hard to kill a sparrow

With a bow and arrow,

Because he's only little and

A target moving from place to place.


MAGPIES
Magpies soon attack your head,

Especially Dad 's, who's bald.

I wonder why they aren't

Affectionate and happy instead?


PEBBLES
As the waves of the ocean

Come continually into shore,

They gradually make the pebbles

Smooth as silk, for sure.