My Grandparents’ Zoo

My Grandparents live in a zoo.
It really does seem like they do.
Their house is full of animals!
And there’re heaps in their garden, too.

There are three dogs—Jess, Phea and Ben,
a tank with some fish—at least ten.
That sounds rather normal you say?
Hear what’s in their laundry room, then!

They’ve at least seven bird-cages
with birds of different ages,
from a helpless baby galah
to old Mag, who rants and rages.

Three aviaries out the backdoor
(they’re planning to build a few more)
keep safe a whole covey of birds—
I counted at least thirty-four!

Lorikeets and budgerigars,
rosellas and cheeky galahs,
a silly old white cockatoo
that hangs upside down on the bars!

There’re twenty-three ducks on the lawn—
it’s starting to look a bit worn
by waddles of forty-six feet!
(‘Cause the ducks are not yet airborne.)

One pet is a bit hard to see—
she’s dug herself under their tree—
a turtle who’s still rather shy,
so they tend to just let her be.

The funniest one of them all
is Possum—who’s still very small—
who likes to hide up Grandma’s shirt
with his claws out so he won’t fall.

My grandparents live in a zoo.
It’s great to visit, it’s true,
but I’m so glad I don’t live there
’cause everything’s covered in POO!

© Kristin Martin 2013

A version of this poem appears in Tadpoles in the Torrens, Poems for young readers,edited by Jude Aquilina (Wakefield Press, 2013).

31 thoughts on “My Grandparents’ Zoo

  1. Hi Kristin,
    I loved that poem! I would love to live in a house filled with animals! But I don’t think my mum would let me as she is quite scared of birds even if she wasn’t scared at all she still wouldn’t let me because she wouldn’t want everything covered in POO! That was such a funny twist! Thank you for writing poems for us all to read! ❤️ We all appreciate it!

    Love Clara

    • Hi Clara,

      It’s lovely to hear from you again. I’m glad you like that poem. I wrote it a long time ago, though I’ve edited it more recently, because it had some mistakes in it. I have become better at writing rhyming poems over the years! The poem is about my kids’ grandparents (my husband’s parents), and when I wrote it, they had all those animals in their house and garden! Now they have different animals.

      Kristin

    • Hi Ellie,

      I’m so glad that my poem made you and your mum laugh. Do you ever write funny poems or stories? Or think up jokes to make people laugh?

      Kristin

  2. Hi Kristin,
    If my grandparents had a zoo in there house I’d visit the all them all the time, but my grandparents live a long way away, and I know for a fact, that my grandparents do not have a zoo in there house!!!

    I also liked the twist at the end. It was pretty funny

    Caleb

    • Hi Caleb,

      I wrote this poem about my children’s grandparents, who were carers for Fauna Rescue and really did have all these animals at one point. Once the animals get better, or grow older, they are able to be released.

      I don’t think they were too happy about me writing that everything is covered in poo!

      Kristin

  3. Hi Kristen
    That was a funny poem . I liked that you said the names of the dogs that gave me more information on the dogs. Do you know someone with a zoo like house? Because I don’t I know people that have that many pets!
    From Thinara

  4. Hi Kristin
    This poem was funny and I loved it. Such an awesome poem! Love the twist at the end! Do your grandparents have a zoo-like house?? I would love one!
    Tharusha

    • Hi Elijah,

      Which specific techniques would you like to know about? I’m happy to answer questions for you, but I need more specific questions (feel free to email me directly- your mum has my email address.)

      Kristin

  5. To Kristin
    I believe I can relate to this poem us I think my grandparents live at a zoo to they have at less 600 beef cattle, 70 or so horses and about 7 dogs. I trust me there is also a lot of poo there too.

    • Hi Harrison,

      It sounds like your grandparents have an amazing place. The grandparents this poem is about (my children’s) live in the suburbs of a big city.

      Kristin

  6. hi Kristin,
    this is a little poem I made about how much I love elephants.

    I love elephants big ones small ones I love elephants.
    Good ones bad ones I love elephants.
    Fashion ones normal ones I love elephants.
    Friendly ones cheeky ones I love elephants

    Great regards Tirath.

  7. Hi Kristin
    I really like your poem because of your twist you added in the end. your poems are always great, funny, silly but at the end you have a great poem.

    Kind regards Yenuli

  8. Hi Kristin,
    I loved this poem. you were just missing 1 thing ELEPHANTS!
    you see I’m the biggest fan of elephants. you can ask me a question about elephants. can you please make a poem about elephants please.
    Tirath.

    • Hi Tirath,

      There are no elephants at my children’s grandparents’ house. I could try to write an elephant poem one day, but it sounds like you would be much better at it as you know so much about elephants. Why don’t you write one and send it to me? I would love to read it!

      Kristin

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *