Curious adventures in verse for children of any and every age

Four deliciously absurd poems with esoteric undertones, all in a playful little book to fit any pocket.

Charlie shamelessly drops chocolate wrappers wherever he goes, drowning his town in an ocean of muck – and learns his lesson. The Temptress of Tantrum employs her unusual art to ensure every child’s moment of rage is truly outrageous. Faced with a difficult decision, Helena is forced to visit all the cluttered backrooms of her mind. And finally, there is Ebenezer Wisijago, whose peculiar presence transforms your life into blissful emptiness.

For those who revelled in Alice’s Wonderland adventures or the cautionary tales read to Victorian children to deter them from ‘wicked’ behaviour, these stories offer a feast of fantasy.

If you tend to trust the word of
Know-all grown-ups and their say-so,
It may be you’ve never heard of
Ebenezer Wysijago.

Fairies, monsters – even gods – all hide
When scrutinised by grown-up eyes –
They cannot squeeze themselves
Inside a vision so reduced in size.

So bear in mind that even when
Your grown-up says there’s nothing there,
It always pays to look again,
With eyes that focus on thin air.

For in that space beyond the screens
That grown-up eyes have fixed in place,
A wealth of otherworldly scenes
Goes on, regardless of disgrace.

They don’t care, these other creatures,
If some humans call them fictions;
They don’t heed those human teachers
Or their very firm convictions.

So many strange and splendid things
Are happening beyond the ken
Of those to whom the fancy clings
That they are wise and grown-up men.