ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Well, Maureen - you've certainly given us an amazing picture of the devastating sink hole incident in Ipswich with your use of this week's prompts in your poem.

So rather than try for a similar type of story, I thought I'd attempt a quirky poem for kids - with a hidden moral, perhaps??

The Backhoes and the Excavators
(c) Shelley Hansen 5/8/16

The backhoes and the excavators started up a war -
each thought that he was better than the one who came before.
The backhoes said, “We’re versatile with buckets front and back”.
The excavators said, “We’re far more agile on our track.”

And so a competition was devised to prove the point,
which caused a sort of sinking feeling all around the joint.
The spirit of community was roused up to protest,
but still the heavy vehicles debated who was best.

A hole in one large paddock was the place they made a start
as furiously digging, they tore half the hill apart -
until the river’s wrath was raised by such a senseless game
and he set out to undermine these rivals bent on fame.

They dug and dug and dug some more and disappeared from view -
the earth had swallowed them right up (I kid you not – it’s true!)
The river overflowed and drowned them in a billabong ...
and that was all there was to this debate of right and wrong!



Cheers
Shelley

Thinking outside the square Shelley - well done. Nothing like playing with the boys big toys to have a bit of fun either. You made terrific use of the prompts as well with this clever piece.

Very clever and a lot of fun Shelley.

I'll read it to my grandson - he loves big machinery.

Thanks Maureen and Wendy! Hope your grandson enjoys it

Cheers
Shelley

Good fun, Shelley. It reminds me of an old episode of The Goodies (ancient history!) in which there was a stop-animation "battle" between a host of large digging machines. It was cleverly done, rather like a fight between various prehistoric monsters. It's probably still around on YouTube somewhere.

Cheers
David

Hey ... I remember The Goodies very well! Ancient history, you say??? And me, such a sprightly young chick!

My very favourite skit (off topic now) was where one of them (I think it was Bill Oddie) was learning to be a water diviner ... the forked stick took off at lightning speed with him attached to it ... it led him over hills and dales for miles, until it sprang into the air, and with him struggling and panting, but still attached, plunged into the river!

Simple, corny - but such great visual comedy! They don't make 'em like that any more!

Cheers
Shelley