Elen Caldecott
Elen Caldecott is a writer for children and young people. She is interested in badly behaved, disobedient children – at least in fiction. She is currently working on a novel for young readers, which sees the protagonist steal an elephant, among other adventures.
In September, with luck, Elen will graduate from Bath Spa University with an MA in Creative Writing for Young People.
In her spare time, Elen likes to sell tickets at the Watershed Box Office.
Ode to a GoldfishIts golden scales have lost their shine.
I fear it’s dead, this fish of mine.
It floats like a dinghy,
It bobs like a ball.
I prod it and push it, but it don’t flap at all.
I lay my fish out on a paper towel.
Soppy wee Johnnie begins to howl.
“Don’t cry,” I say swiftly.
“I have a great plan.”
And I pop the dead fishie onto my palm.
I bring its pale lips right up to my mouth.
Its cold eyes look at me, its tail points due south.
I take a deep breath,
I pucker my jaw.
Wee Johnnie just couldnae believe what he saw.
With our lips clamped together, I blow into the fish.
I blow like a birthday boy making a wish.
The skin swells, it stretches,
Like a goalie making a save,
POP! “There,” I tell Johnnie, “no need for a grave.”
The Rebellion
Wee Johnnie’s hamster is in its cage.
Wee Johnnie’s hamster is in a rage.
It bears its teeth, it snarls, it howls.
It hides provisions in its jowls.
Wee Johnnie’s hamster dreams of freedom,
of establishing a hamster Eden;
with mountains of straw and seeds by the pound,
and no Wee Johnnie for miles around.