Poems about home
- 1. Using LearnEnglish Kids © BBC | British Council 2010 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/ There was an old woman who lived in a shoe There was an old woman Who lived in a shoe, She had so many children She didn’t know what to do; She gave them some broth, Without any bread, Then whipped them all soundly And sent them to bed. Anon House Blessing May it be delightful my house; From my head may it be delightful; To my feet may it be delightful; Where I lie may it be delightful; All above me may it be delightful; All around me may it be delightful. Navajo Native American No. 115 dreams by Jackie Kay The living room remembers gran dancing to Count Basie. The kitchen can still hear my aunts fighting on Christmas day. The hall is worried about the loose banister. The small room is troubled by the missing hamster. The toilet particularly dislikes my grandfather. The wallpaper covers up for the whole family. And No. 115 dreams of lovely houses by the sea. And No. 115 dreams of one night in the country. The stairs are keeping schtum about the broken window. The toilet’s sick of the trapped pipes squealing so. The walls aren’t thick enough for all the screaming. My parents’ bedroom has a bed in a choppy sea. My own bedroom loves the bones of me. My brother’s bedroom needs a different boy. And No. 115 dreams of yellow light, an attic room. And No. 115 dreams of a chimney, a new red roof. And the red roof dreams of robin redbreasts. tap dancing on the red dance floor in the open air. From The Thing That Mattered Most (Scottish Poetry Library) Reprinted for Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition 2010 by kind permission of the author Copyright © Jackie Kay