Poetry for Kids

Kids often ask me to write a poem about their favorite sport. Just as often, they ask me what my favorite sport is. That got me thinking… do I really have just one?

Instead of choosing a single sport, I decided to imagine a kid who loves all of them. A sports fanatic! Someone who gets excited about baseball and soccer and surfing and skiing and everything in between. The result is this poem, a big, energetic list of games, races, matches, and adventures.

This kind of poem is called a list poem, because it’s built from a list of related words or ideas. List poems are a lot of fun to write. You don’t have to tell a big story. You just pick a topic—sports, foods, animals, hobbies, anything—and start listing! If you’d like to try writing your own list poem, here is a simple, step-by-step lesson that can help you get started.

As for me, I have to admit something: if I did choose just one sport, I think rugby might be the coolest in the world. It’s fast, tough, and exciting to watch. It’s hugely popular in places like New Zealand, South Africa, and parts of Europe, though it isn’t played quite as much here in the United States, where I live.

But that’s enough about me. How about you? What’s your favorite sport? Is there just one… or do you like sports of every sort?

My Favorite Sport

Want to know my favorite sport?

Here’s my list (it’s pretty short):

Baseball, football, soccer, kickball.

Table tennis, sailing, stickball.

Surfing, swimming, sprinting, hiking.

Rugby, running, bowling, biking.

Skating, sledding, cricket, curling.

Dancing, dodgeball, hockey, hurling.

Paddle boarding, rafting, rowing.

Horseback riding, hammer throwing.

Handball, softball, skiing, cheering.

Volleyball and mountaineering.

I don’t have ONE favorite sport.

I like sports of every sort!

— Kenn Nesbitt

Have you ever seen a shape in the dark but couldn’t quite make out what it was? Maybe you caught something out of the corner of your eye—a shadow, a lump, a blur—and for just a second your imagination ran wild.

This time of year, even though the days are starting to get a little longer, it’s still winter. It’s still the darkest season. The sun rises late. The evenings stretch on. And when the light is low, ordinary things can look… not so ordinary.

Just this morning, I glanced across the room and thought I saw a black cat sitting perfectly still. On second look, it turned out to be a wastebasket. I’ve done that more than once; seen something indistinct and, before my brain could catch up, imagined all sorts of ominous possibilities.

So I decided to write a poem about that feeling. About spotting something you can’t quite identify… something that seems to move when you move… something that stays just out of sight. When you don’t know what you’re looking at, your imagination is happy to fill in the blanks, and it doesn’t always choose the most comforting answer. I hope you enjoy it. This is…

It Followed Me to School Today

It followed me to school today.

I’m not sure what it was,

though it sounded soft and scratchy,

like a chunk of rusty fuzz.

I couldn’t see it clearly.

It remained just out of sight

as it slunk along in shadows

and retreated from the light.

I started walking faster.

I could smell it. It was foul.

Then it slithered even quicker

and I may have heard it growl.

I felt a rush of panic, thinking

I might not escape.

So I bolted down the block, but still

could not outrun that shape.

At last, I stumbled into school.

I thought I got away,

but it wriggled underneath a bush

and waited there all day.

It followed me back home from school.

It’s now outside my room.

I’m supposed to go to bed, but there’s

this looming sense of doom.

I’d better go tell mom and dad.

They’ll want to hear this warning:

I’ll be staying home tomorrow

if it’s still there in the morning.

— Kenn Nesbitt

I wrote this poem because Valentine’s Day was coming up, and I wanted a silly love poem that felt a little different from the usual ones. I played around with a few ideas first—like a teacher being in love with homework and quizzes, or my cat falling in love with my dog—but none of them quite clicked. Then I started thinking about how some people, especially teenagers, spend a lot of time checking their reflection, and it made me laugh to imagine what that might look like from a sibling’s point of view. Once I had that idea, the poem pretty much wrote itself. I hope you enjoy it. This is…

My Brother’s in Love with His Mirror

My brother is falling in love with his mirror.

At first, I had doubts. Now, it couldn’t be clearer.

He spent today gazing upon his reflection

while whispering words of romantic affection.

He straightened his hair and put on his best shirt,

then said, “Hey, good lookin’,” like some kind of flirt.

He waved at himself as he batted his eyes

then tilted his head and let out a few sighs.

My brother’s behavior is honestly odd.

He smiled at himself with a wink and a nod,

then blew a few kisses and started to blush.

The mirror is clearly my brother’s new crush.

I didn’t know why he was acting this way

when I saw him eyeing his mirror today.

I figured it out, though—it wasn’t that hard—

when I saw him give it a Valentine’s card.

— Kenn Nesbitt

I’ve always loved wordplay, especially poems that play around with the nuts and bolts of language, things like spelling, word order, and the way words look and sound on the page. Over the years, I’ve written poems that make silly use of parentheses, hyphens, and even the spacing between words, just to see what kind of mischief I could get into.

While I was thinking about other punctuation marks I might work into a poem someday—commas, question marks, slashes, brackets, and so on—it suddenly occurred to me that I’d somehow skipped the most obvious one of all. Exclamation points! They’re loud, they’re enthusiastic, and they have a way of making everything feel more exciting… sometimes a little too exciting.

This poem imagines what might happen if someone got just a bit carried away with exclamation points. And fair warning—this is one of those poems that really needs to be seen on the page to make sense, since the punctuation is doing most of the heavy lifting. So if it sounds a little strange out loud, that’s on me! You can read the poem exactly as it was meant to be seen online at Poetry4kids.

I’m Thrilled with Exclamation Points!

I’m thrilled with exclamation points!

I like them so, so much!

It’s awesome how they give my words

that extra special touch!!

Without some exclamation points

my words seem dull and dry.

But add a few!! Now, suddenly,

the writing starts to fly!!!!!

I wonder if it’s possible

to use them even more!!

like! every! word! could! end! with! one!

or! two!! or! three!!! or! four!!!!

Oh!! yes!!! it’s!! so!!! enjoyable!!!!

Instead!! of!! now!! and!!! then!!

I’ll!! add!!! a! few!!!! to!! every! word!!,

like! eight!!!!!!!! or! nine!!!!!!!!! or! ten!!!!!!!!!!

I’d!!! stay!!!! and!!!! tell!!! you!!! more!!!, except!!

I!!!!! have!! to!! leave!!! this!!!! joint!!!!

Besides!!!, I!!! think! it’s!!!! safe!! to!!!!! say!!

by!!! now!!!! you’ve!!!! got!!! my!!!! point!!!!

— Kenn Nesbitt

Before I decide what to wear, I often check the weather on my phone. How cold is it outside? Is it going to rain? Will it warm up later in the day? My wife thinks this is a little ridiculous and says I should just look out the window. Or better yet, step outside and see how it feels. But I like knowing what’s coming. A weather app can tell you if you’re going to need a coat, a hat, or an umbrella later on, even if things look fine right now.

One day, while I was thinking about checking the weather online, a funny idea popped into my head, an idea that felt like it belonged at the end of a poem. As often happens for me, I wrote that ending first and then worked backward, figuring out what kind of poem would lead naturally to it.

This poem grew out of that process, mixing everyday habits with a little imagination and wordplay. I hope it makes you smile, and maybe even think twice about how you decide what the weather’s like before you head outside. This is…

Warm or Storm?

I think I’ll stay inside today.

In here, it’s nice and warm.

Outside, I’m told it’s frozen.

There’s a frigid winter storm.

I heard that there’s a blizzard

with a ton of ice and snow.

Thermometers are saying that

it’s twenty-five below.

That’s way too cold to snowboard,

or to ski, or skate, or sled.

The news said, “Stay inside today

and bundle up in bed.”

I could have gone outside to see

how chilly it would get.

But I just looked online

and read it on the Winternet.

— Kenn Nesbitt