The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

Flight Commander

I’ve seen dancers flying
acrobats flying
gymnasts flying

but the best flight
I ever saw
was the flight of a basketball

launched by a small lad
in the school yard
towards the hoop

and I can still see the flight
of that basketball
as it leaves that boy’s hands

as though the flight path
is marked in the air
as though the boy
was a flight commander.

About the Writer


Rob Walton

Rob Walton is a writer, performer and teacher from Scunthorpe who lives in Whitley Bay, where he writes poetry and fiction for children and adults. His poetry for children has been published by The Toy Press, Tyger Tyger, Parakeet and The Dirigible Balloon, and features in anthologies from Macmillan, Bloomsbury, The Emma Press and others.