Chips And Splinters

By Edward S. Sorenson

Chips And Splinters is a collection of poems written by Edward S. Sorenson. Excerpt:
"From tail to ears he rode her hard,
From ears to tail again,
A mile beyond the cattle yard,
And back across the plain;
Now high upon the pommel bumped,
Now hanging at the side,
Anon behind the saddle dumped,
With arms and legs flung wide."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Nov 9, 2021
• ISBN: 4066338092328

Book preview

Edward S. Sorenson

Chips And Splinters

Published by Good Press, 2022

[e-mail]

EAN 4066338092328

Table of Contents

When Dad Drives Home From Town.

How The Sailor Rode The Brumby.

On Sawpit Gully.

The Renegade.

How Joe Worked The Oracle.

Jilted.

A New system.

The Old Barn School.

The Pasted Cheque.

Granny From The Country.

The Shepherd.

Knights of the Boomerang.

Snipes

The Cow.

A Bush Bard.

Crossing the Log.

A Crook's Deal.

The Back Log.

Billy Flynn.

An Old Fossicker.

The Eternal Maternal Lecture.

The Manly Quadruped.

Timberlegs and The Barwon. News.

Father's Pipe.

Nugget.

The Settlers' Clock.

The Road.

Minding Cockatoos.

The Spoilers.

The Office Boy's Nightmare.

The Big Tree.

The Sailor Ploughman.

THE END

"

When Dad Drives Home From Town.

Table of Contents

When Dad goes into town he takes

  The old selection dray,

And carefully attends the brakes,

  While dawdling all the way;

But when he's interviewed the shops,

  And liquor'd at The Crown—

You bet there's no such thing as stops

  As Dad drives home from town.

 

A careful man he starts away,

  All watchfulness and joy;

Now, mind your pinny, Sis, he'll say;

  Don't soil your coat, me boy;

Take care there, Tom, you don't fall out;

  And Minnie, do sit down!

But all who will may roll about

  When Dad drives home from town.

 

And roll we do, by gum, we do;

  And bump from side to side;

We yell and howl—and so would you

  If fated thus to ride;

'Tis over logs and foul of stumps,

  And knocking saplings down,

For waddies ply and Spanker jumps

  When Dad drives home from town.

 

The kangaroos beat right and left,

  The possums rush for trees,

As Dad stands up like one bereft,

  With coat tails in the breeze;

While Spanker's shod hoofs clout and ring,

  And youngsters gasp and frown;

Dad's hurry's quite astonishing

  When driving home from town.

 

The tail-board was the first to go,

  And with it went the toys;

Then one by one the girls dropped low,

  And after them the boys;

While 'cross the creek he dashed, and then

  Hold tight, he cried, or drown!

'Tis really interesting when

  The Guv'nor drives from town.

 

We're holding tight to mother earth,

  A-sprawl in twos and threes,

While clocking cart wheels drown our mirth,

  Till swallowed in the trees.

Then, gathering spoil from log and rut,

  With swags addressed J. Brown,

We pad the hoof to Bargo Hut,

  While Dad drives home from town.

 

A slush-lamp at the window burns,

  To guide the travellers back;

It dies and glows as Spanker turns

  The windings of the track;

And mother hastens towards the sound

  To throw the sliprails down—

She knows what whirls the wheels around

  When Dad drives home from town.

 

With empty cart, and minus hat,

  He draws the reins a-foam;

In Indian file across the flat

  The kids come toddling home—

With packages and bags a-back,

  With mother's boots and gown,

And other things that blaze the track

  When Dad drives home from town.

---

How The Sailor Rode The Brumby.

Table of Contents

He was an agile sailor man,

  Who longed to know the bush,

And with his swag and billy can,

  He said he'd make a push;

He left his ship in Moreton Bay,

  And faced the western sun—

He asked the way ten times a day,

  And steered for Bandy's Run.

 

Said Bandy, "You can start, my son,

  If you can ride a horse."

'Twas stockmen for the cattle run

  Were wanted there, of course.

Now Jack had strode the crossbars oft

  On many a rolling sea,

So reckoned he'd be safe aloft

  On any moke, you see.

 

They caught him one, and saddled it,

  And led it from the yard;

It sidled round, and champed its bit,

  And at the sailor sparr'd:

He towed her round, and with a grin

  He eyed her fore and aft;

Then thrust his foot the gangway in,

  And swung aboard the craft.

 

The whites and blacks climbed on the rails,

  The boss stood smiling by,

As Jack exclaimed. Away she sails!

  And Brumby 'gan to fly.

She bounded first against the gate,

  And Jack cried out, Astarn!

Then struck a whirlpool—'t any rate,

  That was the sailor's yarn.

 

For Brumby spun him round and round,

  She reared and kicked and struck,

And with alternate bump and bound,

  In earnest 'gan to buck.

A tree loomed onhe starboard bow,

  And—Port yer helm! cried he;

She fouled a bush; he roared, "You scow,

  Keep to the open sea!"

 

One moment he was in the seat,

  The next was lying down;

Anon some acrobatic feat

  Would shame a circus clown.

But still he clung, as monkeys cling,

  To rudder-line and flap,

Although at every prop and spring

  They thought his neck would snap.

 

From tail to ears he rode her hard,

  From ears to tail again,

A mile beyond the cattle yard,

  And back across the plain;

Now high upon the pommel bumped,

  Now hanging at the side,

Anon behind the saddle dumped,

  With arms and legs flung wide.

 

The watchers tumbled off the rail,

  The boss lay down and roared,

While Jack held tight by rein and tail,

  And rocked about on board;

They stared to see him stick aloft,

  Though Bruucked fierce and free;

But he had strode the crossbars oft,

  On many a bounding sea.

 

The saddle from the rounded back

  Went spinning in mid-air,

Whilst two big boots were flung off Jack,

  And four shoes off the mare;

The bridle broke and left her free,

  He grasped her round the neck;