It! (poem)

I know something,

It was there.

In the my house

It gave me a scare!

It tickled my toes,

Like with a red rose.

It stroked my hand

Like with a rubber band.

When I turned,

Only the firewood burned. 

Nobody was there, 

I searched everywhere. 

It was night, nine-past,

It all happened fast. 

It touched, it stroked,

It was but soaked. 

When the lights switched on, 

I saw It and there was a laugh!

For it was just a feather,

And I broke it in half!

~ Anoushka Sabnis

Zombienstein (poem)

One night, when I was in bed,

I heard a loud crash.

There was someone in the house,

For the door I made a dash.

Downstairs I reached to examine

the kitchen, with a helmet on my head,

I heard a drooly munching noise,

And wished I were in bed.

I tiptoed to the kitchen door,

And found a girl there,

She looked the same age as me,

But had dirty bushy hair.

Her dress was full of stains,

Red, which looked like blood. 

Her skin was pale and hands stretched out,

And in her ears, two dirty earbuds.

I knew immediately,

A Zombienstein there stood.

If you don't know what that is,

A zombie-cum-frankenstein, and that's not good.

She was staring at me,

Her mouth stuffed with food.

Looking really hungry, she pounced at me,

As if to take a bite, oh dude!

I took out my helmet,

And slammed it on her face.

She fell to the ground,

And was quite in a daze.

She stood up crying,

I knew it was fake.

Snapped I, "What are you doing here?"

Surprisingly she whispered, "Cake"

She seemed different; ate cakes, not humans

We talked for a while that's when I could see,

She had pounced

But on a cake crumb near me.

We chatted a bit,

And it was soon morning.

I gave her half a cake from the kitchen,

She left happy and smiling.

When mom woke up

I told her about the night.

She laughed really hard,

"Darling, you seem to have not slept alright!"

Up until now, mom doesn't believe me,

But yesterday the Zombienstein again came.

Said she wanted to be my friend,

"Hi I am Kleg; what's your name?"

~ Anoushka Sabnis

If I were...

If I were a bird, I'd be an eagle,

I'd not flutter by the sea side,

like a stupid seagull,

I’d fly high with pride!

If I were an animal, I'd be a hare,

I'd not laze around,

like a fat bear,

I'd leap on the ground!

If I were an insect, I'd be a bee,

I'd not, all over animals, jump

like a pesky flea,

If you'd hurt me, I’d give you a sting on your rump!

But I’m a human, I love the way I am,

I’m just like the animals I want to be!

Energetic, fast, and proud I am,

I hope someone out there wants to be like me!

~ Anoushka Sabnis

My Pet Bat (poem)

One late night, I saw a bat,

Hanging on a tree,

With a gold streak on its wing,

It suddenly winked at me! 

"Can I be your pet?"

It swooped down and asked me,

Yes, he spoke words in English,

A talking bat! But well, I did agree!!

A month passed by, frolicking together,

Then we tried out something new. 

He became my hand-glider! 

Which is only possible for bats rare and few. 

He was quite large, you know! 

We flew all over the world,

From Arctic to Antartic, 

Our glider whirled! 

He is my any-time-travel buddy,

The best I've ever had;

And to have him as a friend, 

Makes me really glad!

~ Anoushka Sabnis

A Fluttery Dreamer (poem)

 

I am a butterfly,

Colourful and small,

I may have a silly dream,

I may not be prettiest of all.

But I don't want to flutter around,

I want to soar the sky,

My friends all make fun of me, 

They say things with fie!

My dreams, my thoughts,

My folks don't agree,

I still fly high in the vast sky,

So they too can understand and see.

One day I flew for hours and hours, 

Up high with the clouds so white

I saw green meadows and grazers below,

Oh my! What a spectacular sight!

On that day something changed,

My friends listened to my tales with belief,

They too now fly high with me,

And have now made me their chief!

~ Anoushka Sabnis

When Museum Came to Life (poem)

One Sunday, mom said,

"Lets go to the museum, get out of bed!"

I took my best friend with me,

So the museum she could also see!

When finally we all reached there,

I searched for the Natural History section everywhere!

After about five minutes or so,

I found my destination, where I wanted to go!

To see the animals, my friend and I went,

Because all extinct animal models there were kept.

After we saw the Prehistoric Age,

We turned to see the fishes, when we saw a sage!

He told us to close our fists and make a wish,

But when we asked him why, he went away with a swish!

We didn't really believe him, but still tried doing this,

And said together, "These animals and birds come to life, we wish!"

Suddenly, there was a bang and a blinding light,

We grasped each other tight with fright!

There was a ROAR and then it came,

A majestic Brachiosaurus, with all its fame!

Me and friend were dumbstruck,

Then came another dinosaur, many sizes bigger than a truck!

Its name tag was still on and we shivered when we read it.

That dino was a T-Rex, yup, that's right, I just said it!

The huge carnivorous dino, was drooling when it saw me,

And then came a deafening TRUMPET, and we both screamed with glee!

A huge Woolly Mammoth, ready to fight Mr T Rex, but oh!

The Rex roared with fear and got ready to go!

We jumped around happily, but the Mammoth was not done yet,

He tried to stamp us down, like mortal enemies, but we had just met!

In the scene of jumping around, came a scary sound,

A sabertooth tiger roared as he walked slowly on the marbled ground!

I wanted to escape and a plan struck me,

I told my friend, and she did agree,

She whistled loud and distracted the animals with a statue,

Of lordess Athena, from 234 BC, kept in a distant view

By then, I had perched myself up on a window sill, and pulled my mate with all my strength,

The animals scraped at the wall but couldn't catch us at such length!

We jumped off the window and landed on a mattress, we wondered where we were,

And then saw beneath us, a statue of Athena, 234 BC was the year!

We were astonished to see it there, but stood up from the mattress soft,

We searched for mom, and found her near the loft!

The prehistoric animals were all in place, stuffed and unreal,

But just as we were leaving, a sabertooth tiger, winked at us, totally cruel!

~ Anoushka Sabnis

The Oak inside the Acorn! (poem)

I am a tree,

A big and ancient oak,

I have friendly neighbours,

Birds, squirrels and frogs that croak.

I love the sky,

Fluffy clouds and the sun so bright,

My long underground roots,

Keep me fit and tight!

My leaves are pretty,

My fruit is too,

It's called the acorn,

Squirrels love it; do you?

At night, owls and squirrels,

Sleep on my branches and in holes,

Some animals sleep in the night,

Whiles others search for food, like moles!

I love being a tree,

The winds and the rains,

The dew and the flowers,

The grasshoppers and the plains!

I am tall and mighty,

Grow from an acorn small and round,

You know me for my strength and endurance, 

I am however just a small nut that held its ground!

~ Anoushka Sabnis (aka Oak!)

ZooZoo! (poem)

Today I went to the zoo

And saw many animals there,

From lion to bear,

Tiger to hare!

I saw a part which said,

'Rare Animals'

So I left the section of seagulls,

To where I could here animals growling like cannibals!

I was dumbfounded at what I saw,

Half a bird, half a frog,

Half a turtle, half a dog

Half a cat, half a hog!

The bird-frog's name was Biribbit,

Dog-turtle was Turtogles

Hog-cat was Catog,

And a horse-cow was Moorse!

I was not sure if these were real,

Biribbit, Catog, Turtogles,

They all were wearing goggles,

In my mind this still boggles!

Suddenly, a huge Catog,

Jumped out from its cage,

It snapped its paws with rage  

And poof! I was back in the 21st century age!

The Rare Animals board was no longer there,

Where it was when I entered,

I turned to go back, just when in a far sight I figured,

A cat and a hog walking hand in hand, they winked at me mysteriously absurd!

In that moment, I knew something

I had been transported to an era of hybrid-being!

Was that the future or past of evolution,

I still don't have a solution!

~ Anoushka Sabnis 

The Big Wash! (poem)

On a Sunday morn, mummy said - 

"Today's your turn to clean clothes in the machine"

So I put the dirty ones in and starting working,

While the clothes were getting clean!

After a while, when they were clean,

I went to hang them out,

And then I saw another pile of dirty clothes on my bed,

Sighed, and turned on the washing machine all about! 

When I went to hang these out,

I wondered if there'll be,

Another heap of dirty clothes,

Waiting for me to see!

And I was right, for when I went in,

Yet another pile was greeting me,

"Come on and put us in the machine,

So that we're clean for your mom to see!"

I got all mad, but still put them in,

And made a commitment,

"If there's another pile again,

In the machine I'll punch and make a huge dent!"

I hung the third pile and went in my room,

And what d'you suppose I saw?

Well, you're right! Another pile,

And I said, "I'll eat them raw!" 

I flung the clothes around and round,

In anger my face went red!

Even the clean ones were now dirty,

And then I just wanted to bang my head!

When mommy came,

She saw the mess,

And exclaimed, "Oh God,

This gives me stress!"

After clearing up the mess,

I jumped towards my bed,

Slept, what was like a long nap,

And dreamt of a washing machine that said:

"Cmon, clean, clean, clean! Don't be lazy!"

Then the voice slowly fainted and the image went hazy!

~ Anoushka Sabnis

The Salad! (poem)

My mommy gave me a salad,

Which she said was healthy!

It had fruits and veggies green,

With nutrients it was wealthy! 

I took out some black olives,

And gave them to Tuffie,

Who is my little doggie,

Soft and white and fluffy!

Then some lettuce went in the dustbin,

By me, 'cause they were bland,

The green little leaf in the smelly box,

Where dumping food was banned! 

Those little tomatoes and cucumbers,

Went in my mommy's salad bowl,

Because I was "allergic" to them!

Plip! Plop! They fell in the bowl,

And mommy didn't even notice them!

The little apples, white and crunchy,

Had gone red and soggy, so I,

Flung them outside the window,

And I just told you why!

The oranges had big seeds,

And were really sour!

So I decided to put the fruit,

Under my bowl, where they still are!

The bananas had gone a bit black,

And I didn't like the look!

So underneath the flower pot they went,

Because I thought nobody will search that nook! 

The only thing left in my bowl was the dressing,

Of honey, mustard and mayonnaise,

So being the really good girl that I am,

I squeakily licked it off, and finished my salad with ease!

~ Anoushka Sabnis

The Perfect Winter Cocoa! (poem)

The perfect winter cocoa,

Has loads and loads of chocolate!

All sugary, warm and frothy,

Finish it with sips and licks, till it leaves a lingering taste

It is full of all things sweet,

And heaps of marshmallows, as we drink, we eat!

Gooey and milky, its smell makes my eyes twinkle,

I love it more with a kiss of sprinkles.

A few dollops of cream could do well too,

But only for children, and only a few!

While drinking the cocoa, the surroundings should be warm,

Like under the blankets, on the couch, where everybody wants to swarm!

The perfect winter cocoa,

Is never turned down!

'Cause it's so yummylicious,

As precious as a gem-studded crown!

~ Anoushka Sabnis