On Thursday, the 13th of October, Young Writers was on. Young Writers is a four day program held in Geraldton WA. It invites any one from the years 6-12 who are interested in writing, to come to Geraldton to spend a day learning from an Australian author about writing. This Thursday was the last session for this year, there were one each term, each with a different author with a different story to tell.

This time at Young Writers, Catherine Bateson was the guest author, teaching us a bit about poetry. Over the day we listened to some of her stories and did a few writing activities. One of the activities was simple, we were given a ‘recipe’ for a poem. We had to answer these questions in poem form:

What weather are you?

What musical instrument are you?

What vehicle are you?

What (piece of writing) are you?

This was meant to just be a ‘warm’ up exercise to try and get your brain going. This is what I came up with:

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I am the morning storm, knocking on your door.

I am the lightning crack, striking once more.

But I can be the evening glory, a raining sun shower.

The last glow of light, concluding the day.

I am the Chinese gong, loud that rattles your ears.

.I am the electric guitar, a sqealing whine

When I could be the jingles of fairy bells, a relieving sound.

I could be the piano’s melody, a dumbfounding symphony,

I am a large tractor with an angry driver.

I am a horse, ready to buck

But I could be a submarine, cruising below your feet.

I could be a Ferrari Italia, speeding swiftly down the street.

And today I am a poem, waiting for you to read me.

Telling you what I am, and what I could be.

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When I read this to the Young Writers group, surprisingly many people were impressed. I was told by one of the teachers that I should put this out on the internet so people can see my work. They were especially surprised with my work, but I didn’t see why because the poem doesn’t sound that special to me.

I don’t normally write poems, it is rare that I ever write at all (apart from blogging). I do enjoy it but I can never believe that I will get the compliments I do. I’m not a very modest person, I always think that my work is horrible or something that people wont like… turns out many people like my work and that it might be worth continuing doing.

Maybe I have a secret talent.