A Day Indoors
It all started
with a band
of furious little
sisters and brothers
waving lightsabers
and Barbies
forcing us to retreat
to Fort Pillow under
Dining Table Mountain.
Despite terrible weather
making our usual battle
ground off-limits (‘too
muddy!’ General Mum
declared), the fight had
still been fierce but
we were well stocked
with jammy dodgers and
sandwiches (with the
crusts cut off) then my
second in command
took a Barbie to the ear
and needed a cold wet
flannel, so the war was over
and we all lay down with
the pillows and had a nap.
with a band
of furious little
sisters and brothers
waving lightsabers
and Barbies
forcing us to retreat
to Fort Pillow under
Dining Table Mountain.
Despite terrible weather
making our usual battle
ground off-limits (‘too
muddy!’ General Mum
declared), the fight had
still been fierce but
we were well stocked
with jammy dodgers and
sandwiches (with the
crusts cut off) then my
second in command
took a Barbie to the ear
and needed a cold wet
flannel, so the war was over
and we all lay down with
the pillows and had a nap.
This poem is copyright (©) Melinda Szymanik 2026
About the Writer
Melinda Szymanik
Melinda is an award-winning New Zealand author of picture books, short stories and novels for children and young adults. Notable titles include The Were-Nana (Scholastic, 2008) winner of Children’s Choice at the 2009 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards, A Winter’s Day in 1939 (Scholastic, 2013) winner of Librarian’s Choice at the 2014 LIANZA Awards, and Fuzzy Doodle (Scholastic, 2016) a 2017 White Raven selection. She also writes poetry for adults and children, and regularly teaches creative writing.
