The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

Bird Spotting with my Gran

Gran knows a redcap from a goldfinch,
a robin from a sparrow, a falcon from a kite
but she doesn’t always hear their calls:
cuckoo, skylark, nightingale. Not right.

So I downloaded the Merlin App
onto her phone and when they sing
their names light up. Her face does too.
It’s Grandma’s favourite thing.

About the Writer


Carole Bromley

Carole has won the Caterpillar Prize and had poems in Tyger, Tyger, The Toy, Paper Lanterns, Paperbound, Little Thoughts Press and Northern Gravy as well as in her collection, Blast Off! and anthologies from MacMillan, Nosy Crow and Emma Press. She does readings and workshops at festivals and in schools and in 2024 is tutoring courses on writing poetry for children at the Garsdale Retreat and for the Writing School online.