Robert Fisher

Teaching thinking and creativity

Developing creative minds and creative futures

Poems for children

© Robert Fisher

The following is a selection of poems for children by Robert Fisher

To find a poem

To find a poem

listen to the wind

whispering words strange and rare

look under stones

there you might find a fossil

shape of an old poem.

They turn up anywhere

in the most unexpected places

look for words that are trapped

in the branches of trees

in the wings of birds

in rockpools by the sea.

And if you find one

handle it carefully

like an injured bird

for a poem can die

or slip through the fingers

like a live eel

and be lost in the stream.

Follow whatever footprints are there

even if no-one else can see them

for clues to lost poems

are waiting to be found

round the next corner

or before you right now.

You may have just missed one

never mind

look again tomorrow

you may find your poem

or your poem

lost somewhere in the dark

may be waiting for you.

The following poem is from ‘Amazing Monsters' (ed. Robert Fisher) published by Faber & Faber.

Minotaur

in the middle of the sea lies an island

in the middle of the island stands a palace

in the middle of the palace is a maze

of darkened rooms and alleyways

endless walls and hidden doors

miles and miles of corridors

here shadows fall and footsteps sound

echoing along the ground

here is my home

I am minotaur

half-man half-bull

shaggy-headed golden horns

hear me bellow hear my roar

see the slavering of my jaw

round the corner here I wait

flaring nostrils sniff the air

for here or somewhere a door may open

and I will enter

your dream

of the sea

and in the middle of the sea lies an island

in the middle of the island stands a palace

in the middle of the palace is a maze

of darkened rooms and alleyways

endless walls and hidden doors

miles and miles of corridors

here shadows fall and footsteps sound

echoing along the ground

here is my home

I am ... waiting

The following poem is from ‘Minibeasts’ (ed. Robert Fisher) published by Faber & Faber.

Long after humankind has gone

Long after humankind has gone

and cities lie empty

and the sound of machines

is stopped

in dark holes

there will be life

lying in cracks in the burnt earth

the white seeds of eggs

through the blowing dust come

scuttling legs

of animal life

they were the first

in some form they will be

the last of things

long after human hopes are lost

when the green world dies

once more life will rise

The following poem is from ‘Ghosts Galore: Haunting Verse’ (ed. Robert Fisher) published by Faber & Faber.

The Voice in the Tunnel

The end of the tunnel was dark

I was alone

or thought I was.

So to cheer myself up I called

'Anyone there?'

Then came the voice

There there

I tried again

'Hello!'

Hello

'Are you near?'

Near near

'WHO are you?'

Who whooooo?

I got out of that tunnel pretty quick

and with each step I heard another

strange and distant.

Now far away

I cannot hear that voice

but still I wonder what it is saying

in the dark

at the end of the tunnel.

About these poems

Poems published on this website may be used for educational purposes but may not be published or commercially reproduced without permission.

© Robert Fisher