Almanac Poetry: Fighting Planes of World War Two
Spitfire. [Wikimedia Commons.]
Fighting Planes of World War Two
As a kid, it seemed a good idea,
exciting, fun
— when I looked at the cover of the box
in the department store
a Spitfire, Lancaster, Zero appeared
in all its vivid glory.
Why not try to build one?
But the parts were tiny, plastic, fiddly,
the glue impossibly sticky
and would congeal around the top
almost as soon as I’d opened it.
As for the delicate brushes,
those tiny paint tins,
to decorate the fuselage…
I never had the patience
to properly complete
one of these stupid planes.
Inevitably, my handiwork
resulted in a load of crap.
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
Kevin Densley’s latest poetry collection, Sacredly Profane, is available HERE
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Now Kevin, did you ever try making a Gloster Gladiator, or a PZL P.11?
They were a challenge !
Glen!
I doubt it, Glen! (Or, ‘I can’t recall’ – as they often say in Royal Commissions.)
If I did, the result would have been a gluey, congealed mess of plastic.
But the glue; the glue. The memory of those fruity fragrant esters sticks in my brain nearly as much as it stuck to my fingers. Can’t have a glass of Marsanne without remembering Airfix.
Yes, PB – the goddam glue! That was at the centre of the whole problem with these planes.
And you’ve reminded me – just about the best value white wine in Australia was Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne (Nagambie Lakes, Victoria). Now they’ve dropped the ‘Chateau’ bit from the name, but it’s still good value. One of those quite rare, not-too-expensive Australian whites that ages well. I write all this, because I’ve been meaning to buy a box. But I digress…
Made a magnificent Lancaster Bomber model plane once and had it hanging from the ceiling on fishing line.
Then the sock footy hit it one night and blew it out of the sky.
Hi Dips. Thank you for your response. Metaphorically speaking, a sock footy will destroy a Lancaster Bomber every time!
Excellent KD. I had resisted reading this poem as trying to build those little f**kers was traumatic way back when in *cough* *cough* ’72. What a delight to read someone else’s story similar to my own terrors! Cheers
So glad you liked and could relate to the poem, Rick!
The ancient Greeks believed that, basically, their public theatre was the stage upon which the culture acted out its ‘angsts’ and, in so doing, provided the audience with a kind of catharsis – poetry can do a similar thing.