The Cough Monster
Cough, Cough Myles: I wrote this poem when I was ill for the third time in a row! I was texting a message to my brother Greg to tell him why I wasn’t coming in. Somewhere in the middle of the message it became a…
Telepigeon
What is a Telepigeon? My niece has invented a few of her own wonderful words. One of them is her version of the word Television. She calls it a Telepigeon! I loved the word. It created a really interesting visual image in my head. So,…
What Matters to a Matador?
ILLUSTRATING A POINT Wilm writes: It is lots of fun to illustrate Myles’ poems! For this one, because it’s all about the figure of the Matador I thought it would be funny to draw the Matador in lots of different sort of silly poses. The Matador…
Animal Playlists
ANIMAL PLAYLISTS This poem exists thanks to my daughter. At the moment she can’t quite pronounce the word music like ‘m-you-sik’. Instead she says ‘mooo-sik’. The moo sound made me think of cows! All I had to do then was work out what kind of…
Nasty Crusties
CRUSTACEANS Myles writes: Crustaceans are related to insects and spiders, but are their own separate group. Because unlike insects and spiders they live underwater. They include things like crabs, lobsters and prawns. They are an extremely interesting group of animals and different kinds are found…
Aeroplane
AEROPLANE Myles: Sometimes the best inspiration is whatever you’re doing right now. I started writing this poem when I was on an aeroplane to Porto in Portugal. I wrote it out in my little poetry notebook that I keep with me at all times (or,…
Ms Dinosaur
Dinosaurs for everyone I have a three year old daughter. One of the things you realise when you become a parent is how many things are ‘supposed to be’ for boys and girls. Boys are supposed to like cars and trucks and blue. Girls are…
Baby Shark
BABY SHARK Myles writes: This poem was important for me, because it was the start of something. After I wrote it, I decided I needed to write more poems. The poem itself was inspired by a one of my favourites from my own childhood. That…
Roar, roar, T. rex
TYRANNOSAURUS REX Tyrannosaurs rex is probably the most famous of all dinosaurs. It was large, fast and liked eating meat. It belonged to a group of dinosaurs called the theropods (which means beast-footed). MODERN DINOSAURS We often say the dinosaurs died out but that’s not…
Yuri Gagarin
YURI GAGARIN Question: When did the first human being leave the Earth? Answer: April 12th, 1961. Yuri Gagarin was born in Russia in 1934. He was a talented pilot and was selected to be the first human to fly into outer space. His flight around…