One Morning You Wake Up
and it is winter:
the trees are wooden ice lollies,
the road a frozen river,
the street a concrete hockey rink.
People have swapped their heads
for woolly hats, their hands for thick gloves,
their necks for brightly coloured scarves.
They are breathing like dragons,
they are shivering like snowmen,
they are freezing like polar bears.
The stars are chattering teeth,
the moon a frostbitten toenail,
the sun a hot chocolate with friends.
the trees are wooden ice lollies,
the road a frozen river,
the street a concrete hockey rink.
People have swapped their heads
for woolly hats, their hands for thick gloves,
their necks for brightly coloured scarves.
They are breathing like dragons,
they are shivering like snowmen,
they are freezing like polar bears.
The stars are chattering teeth,
the moon a frostbitten toenail,
the sun a hot chocolate with friends.
This poem is copyright (©) Carl Burkitt 2024
About the Writer
Carl Burkitt
Carl likes telling tales. He tells long tales, short tales, silly tales, sad tales. He tells them online, behind a mic, in books, in schools, and on the sofa with his young family. His debut kids’ collection, Elephants Sleep in Bunk Beds, was published by Beir Bua in 2021.