My Illustrated Month is a creative daily challenge I started with my partner, Eoin Lyons.
Weekdays in October, Eoin would write a poem and I would do an illustration to accompany it.
A thousand stars up in the sky
I wonder why they’re glowing
Perhaps for all the spaceships
So they can see where they are going
The world is full of little things
You can hold some in your hand,
They’re good, they’re bad, they’re inbetween,
A cut, a book, a laugh, a hug
How I wish I could see these little things
Through eyes as new as yours,
Because when every little thing is new
It’s hard to feel that bored.
And even if the bad things might make you feel upset,
They’ll pass in time, so do not fret,
Cause pretty soon you will forget
And another thing will come along
An itch, a game, a door, a song,
So don’t be scared of what life brings
The world is full of little things.
You might find this incredible
But daddy isn’t edible
Not with sauce or a side of chips
Or any other types of dips
So don’t bite daddy, you’ll hurt your jaw
Especially if you eat him raw
His skin’s too hard, his fat’s quite thick
But if you must, then try a lick
You woke up screaming in the night, i picked you up, my kin,
I held you closely in my arms and took you for a spin,
Years from now, I’ll view our dance with bittersweet reflection,
As I watch you waltz away from me, in the warmth of your love’s
affection.
I think there’s been a grave mistake
I think we’ve been unlucky,
The doctor delivered a baby
But I suspect we got a monkey.
It shrieks and shouts and swings from me
And is fond of rough and tumble,
So I’m wheeling it to Africa
To return it to the jungle.
Catty sometimes does a dance
I’ve often tried to copy,
She jerks her body back and forth
In a way that feels quite floppy,
But as much as i try to do the dance
The ending proves too drastic,
Cause she’ll finish with a flourish
By sicking up some plastic.
Have you ever passed a snail and thought;
‘By God, you’re very slow!’
Well if you’ve ever thought that thought
There’s something you should know,
That when no one’s there that snail sprouts wings
And takes off like a jet,
And does loop the loops and barrel rolls
And then flies off to Tibet.
When you hear a sound at night
Don’t get too upset,
It’s simply little gremlins
Scuttling round your bed.
They’re really pretty harmless,
so try not to condemn,
In fact they’re far more scared of you
than you might be of them.
Og was a frog
with a missing leg
In its place was a peg
But it made him mad
Because now when he jumps
he pokes holes in his pad
Oh no, your nose has run into your mouth!
You’ll have to try and fish it out
It boxed the yoke at the back of your throat,
It ran to your tum & then out through your bum
Now it's out it smells quite funny,
Next time don’t let it get so runny!
Hungry little molly
Had a leaf all on her own
Until then she went and ate herself
Out of house and home
When you look in the mirror
It's not yourself you see,
It's actually a twin sister or brother,
From an alternate reality.
You might think it’s just your reflection,
Mimicking all of your moves,
But if you’re quick & jump about,
You’ll wear them down & catch them out.
A flower bud among the grass,
Set the garden all abuzz…
What colour are its petals?
They wondered & discussed.
It could be yellow, red or pink, or white, black, brown or blue,
Or orange, purple, grey or beige or any kind of hue!
Next morning the flower blossomed,
And the garden ceased their guessing.
A lovely little violet,
Just the colour that we’re missing!
The shellfish lined up on the beach
On a lovely sunny day
They took the shells from off their back
And started to exchange
Most of the trades went on okay
But one crab felt shortchanged
When the swapping was all over
He was feeling quite constrained
His shell was small and pokey
And it didn’t cover his head
He was looking for a villa
But had to settle for a shed
If cows moo
Do moose coo?
Could a wolf miaow?
Could a seagull howl?
And if I go woo,
Do you do too?
I knew a little bookworm
Who ate up all my books
She worked her way through all the pages
I’d say it must have taken ages,
But she told me not to worry
‘Cause she remembers all the stories.