What Drives a Flying Fox Batty?
What perturbs the flying fox?
It’s not concerned with missing socks
Cups of tea or winding clocks
Interest rates or falling stocks
Or what on earth’s inside the box
But when they’re hanging upside down
Dangling there above the ground
You know the thing that often shocks
The rather blasé flying fox?
It’s when the breezes pick up pace
And squall around about the place
And cause the branch on which the fox
Is swinging from (without its socks)
To lilt and sway until it rocks
Like a little boat in stormy docks
And this is what will grey the locks
Of the mostly, carefree flying fox
It’s not concerned with missing socks
Cups of tea or winding clocks
Interest rates or falling stocks
Or what on earth’s inside the box
But when they’re hanging upside down
Dangling there above the ground
You know the thing that often shocks
The rather blasé flying fox?
It’s when the breezes pick up pace
And squall around about the place
And cause the branch on which the fox
Is swinging from (without its socks)
To lilt and sway until it rocks
Like a little boat in stormy docks
And this is what will grey the locks
Of the mostly, carefree flying fox
This poem is copyright (©) Jackie Hosking 2026
About the Writer
Jackie Hosking
Jackie is a children’s poet and picture book author. Her poetry has appeared in Magazines and anthologies all over the world and her picture books have been published by Walker Books, Scholastic, Larrikin House and The National Museum of Australia.
