Youth / Junior Online Bush Poetry Competition Results

The Ghastly Grocery Grannies
© 2008 Gabrielle Morri

I was woken very early
by my Mum yesterday,
she yanked me out of bed,
bellowing, “It’s grocery shopping day!”

“Can this be quick and painless?”
I grumbled back at Mum,
“I’d rather play PS3
and sit on my bum!”

The aisles were deserted,
the shelves largely bare,
our squeaky trolley with the wonky wheel
gave me quite a scare.

The staff were all zombies,
an inkling - I now know,
that grocery day would be
an all-time shopping low.

The lights began to flicker,
the floorboards creaked and groaned,
“Mum, can we get this over with?”
I hastily moaned.

Then came...

The ghastly granny stampede
of cardigans and blue hair,
with mouldy noses and beady eyes,
I couldn’t escape their glare.

They sneered and chanted incessantly,
“No children allowed in the store.”
wrestled groceries and bombarded me,
I couldn’t stand anymore!

Grocery day had grown nightmarish,
a sideshow of decay,
I frantically dug my way out of there,

...and bolted far away!

The Stockman’s Horse
© 2008 Laura Leighton

They were bringing in the cattle when the stockman’s horse went down
And the stockman knelt beside him as he lay there on the ground
He lifted up his old friend’s head and looked into his eyes
And knew by what was written there the horse would never rise.
“Old friend,” he said, “you’ve got me out of many nasty binds
You must have saved that stupid bull’s life half a dozen times.
No matter what the job at hand, you’ve always done your best
And never asked for anything but feed and time to rest.
You’re sure of mind and fleet of foot and proud of spirit too
You never threw me off, you never even dropped a shoe.
You know just how the cows will move, you never let them past you
I’ve seen myself you’ll go all day, and all the next still faster.
Remember when we ran through mud, I fell and almost died?
You didn’t move a step but stayed beside me all that night.
A loyal, loving, honest friend to meet was my good luck
You and I and open space; the pattern set got stuck.
Now I can buy another horse who’s fast and smart and young
But he won’t have these memories of all the things we’ve done.
Noble breeding’s well and good when prancing round a ring
But since I met you, now I know that blood’s not everything.
A great horse you have been my boy, you’ve never let me down.”
So said the stockman to his old friend lying on the ground.
“Mate,” he said, “you’ve done me proud, what more could I have asked?”
And so they watched the sunset as the old horse breathed his last.