Personal Choice 1 (197)

A Small Dragon

I've found a small dragon in the woodshed.

Think it must have come from deep inside a forest

because it's damp and green and leaves

are still reflecting in its eyes . . .

©

Please read the rest of the poem at:

https://childrens.poetryarchive.org/poem/a-small-dragon/

Brian Patten

Poet and performer Brian Patten (1946 - ) first made his name in the 1960s as one of the Liverpool Poets, along with Adrian Henri and Roger McGough. Their aim was to make poetry accessible and to bring it to new audiences. Their popular anthology The Mersey Sound published in 1967 has sold over 250,000 copies to date.

I recall a deputy principal at a large private school admitting to me one afternoon the growing difficulty she was having encouraging her junior pupils to engage more with their imagination and explore their creativity. She said, ‘The tragedy is, every year we are teaching more magic out of them’. Her own reaction to Brian Patten’s poem was that most children probably no longer believed.