The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

Arachnophobia? No Fingles!

Listen to David read his poem ...
Freda McSpeedy, raced out springly-skreedy
when Stingle the strider splid by
and her cries screechy-curled to the edge of the world
but Stingle just tissed out a sigh.

Brenda her friend, a wisedimply bookender
found Freda still squetting with fright
and explained “there’s no need to run out, scream or faint
if wee crawlyclaws cromples at night”.

With the gentlest of hands, Brenda froshed her to stand,
watching Stingle skitt-squiddring with dread:
“It’s so small and it stives in that hole in the wall,
where the Stinglekins wait to be gred” (she said).

It was going so well, Brenda started to say
“Pick it up now and try to be mild…”
when up
d
e
p
m
u
z

the spider and skiddled astride her,
jaggy-stingling that splottery child.

About the Writer


David Bleiman

David is a grandfather and poet living in Edinburgh. He loves to write across the languages and his first pamphlet, This Kilt of Many Colours (Dempsey & Windle, 2021) is a multilingual mixter-maxter in English, Scots, Spanish and Yiddish. This celebration of David's Jewish heritage includes the prizewinning Trebbler's Tale, written in a partly excavated but largely reimagined lost dialect of Scots-Yiddish. With the sense of humour of an overgrown schoolboy, David is now writing childish poems for himself and other children.