When I was a very young child, perhaps 5 or 6, I wrote a poem that got published in The Timaru Herald newspaper. My first published writing.

I think I may've dreamed recently that I'd found a copy of it on the Web. I can't recall (I'm not good at remembering dreams). Or maybe I saw the newspaper cutout not long ago, but I've since forgotten about it.

So tonight I tried to search for it online. However even though the Timaru Herald has archives dating back to June 1864, sadly my early poetic output is not on the Web. I'm hopeful that my parents kept the cutout. Right now it'd be all yellowy and dog-eared, maybe trapped inside an old photo album...

Here's what I think the poem was, accounting for fading memory:

There once was a spider
Fishing on the deck
The spider dropped its fishing rod
And shouted out "Aw heck!"