Poetry for Kids

Football season has just begun, and some members of my family are already enthusiastically watching the games and hoping their favorite team will make it to the Super Bowl again this year.

I’ve written lots of sports poems over the years, including a couple about football. But those poems could just as easily have been about soccer as American football. This is the first poem I’ve written that is unmistakably about American football, complete with a quarterback throwing the ball and sending it spiraling through the air.

When I started thinking about what kind of football poem I wanted to write, I thought it might be fun to tell the story from the football’s point of view. After all, what would it feel like to actually *be* a football? You’d get to soar through the air while thousands of people cheered. Players would leap to catch you, cradle you in their arms, protect you from the other team, and carry you down the field. That sounds like a pretty exciting life.

Of course, being a football might have its downsides too. But I’ll let the football tell you about those itself.

Here’s my newest poem…

It’s Fun to Be a Football

It’s fun to be a football.

It’s phenomenal to fly.

The feeling is fantastic as

I spiral through the sky.

The quarterback releases me.

I rocket through the air

and soar above the roaring cheers

of everybody there.

The players leap to catch me.

Then they form a human shield

to keep me from the other team

and run me down the field.

They hold me close and rock me

like a baby as they run.

I’m glad that I’m a football.

As a football, life is fun.

It’s honestly incredible

except in one regard…

I really wish the players wouldn’t

kick me quite so hard.

 — Kenn Nesbitt

I wrote this poem because, here in the northern hemisphere, summer is almost over and fall will be here in just a few days. But, at least where I live, you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the weather. The days are still sunny and warm, and it still feels a lot like summer, even though I know the cooler autumn weather will be arriving before long.

That got me thinking about what might happen if Summer and Autumn were actual people with jobs to do and schedules to keep. Maybe Summer can’t simply leave whenever he wants. Perhaps he has to wait for Autumn to show up and take over his shift first. And what if Autumn happens to be running a little late?

Of course, when Summer leaves us here in the northern hemisphere, he has somewhere important to go. In places south of the equator, such as Australia, South Africa, and much of South America, the seasons are reversed. Their summer runs roughly from December through March, while we’re having winter. So I imagined Summer getting ready to head south, with people there eagerly waiting for his arrival, while Autumn has reasons of her own for not being quite ready to take his place.

The result is a phone conversation between two very busy seasons trying to sort out their schedules.

Summer and Autumn

The Summer phoned the Autumn

and he asked, “Why aren’t you here?

It’s time for my vacation in

the southern hemisphere.

“My shift is nearly over and

it’s time for me to split.”

The Autumn answered, “Just relax.

I’ll be there in a bit.

“I’m shopping for an outfit.

I could use a brand-new gown.

I need an orange dress with lots

of yellow, red, and brown.

“As soon as I can find the one

I really want to wear,

I’ll come and take your place,

so please be patient. I’ll be there.”

“But Autumn,” said the Summer,

“There’s a place I have to be.

Australia sent a text to say that

they’re expecting me.

“South Africa’s been calling too.

They want me right away.

And down in South America

they’ve asked for no delay.”

So if it’s hot and sunny when

the Autumn should be here,

it’s just the grumpy Summer

working overtime this year.

— Kenn Nesbitt

My wife recently started a new job as a school picture day photographer. Every day when she comes home, she has interesting, and often funny stories about the people and things she photographed that day. She’s taken pictures of hundreds of students, of course, but she’s also photographed teachers, school staff, and even a principal’s dog!

One thing she quickly discovered is that the grown-ups aren’t necessarily any easier to photograph than the kids. Teachers, for example, are much more likely to ask for do-overs of their staff photos because they didn’t like their smile, their hair, or the way they looked in the first one.

After hearing all these stories, I started thinking that picture day sounded like a perfect subject for a poem. My wife agreed and asked me to write a funny picture day poem that she could share with her coworkers.

So I wrote this one. Thankfully, she liked it. I hope you do too.

Picture Day

It’s picture day at school today.

I sat down in the chair

then rolled my tongue and crossed my eyes

and messed up all my hair.

I mugged for the photographer.

She frowned and shook her head,

and told me I should comb my hair

and try to smile instead.

She said, “Say cheese!” I puffed my cheeks

and jutted out my chin,

then stuck my fingers in my ears

and forced a silly grin.

She told me that, for picture day,

our portraits should be formal.

Instead, I made a zombie face,

all twisted and abnormal.

The camera clicked. I laughed so hard

I felt like I might burst.

But she just rolled her eyes and said,

“You teachers are the worst.”

— Kenn Nesbitt

The beginning of a new school year can be exciting, but it can also be a little scary. You might wonder who you’ll sit with, whether you’ll make new friends, or whether the other kids will think you’re cool. That was one of the ideas that got me started on this poem.

The other idea has been bouncing around in my head for years. Once, during an assembly at an elementary school, I was speaking to about 200 fourth- and fifth-graders. We were going to write a poem together, so I asked for a volunteer to tell me their favorite thing ever… something we could use as the subject of our poem.

I called on one student, and they enthusiastically shouted, “Space llamas!”

I thought that was hilarious and I told them so, though I heard a lot of other kids groan, which just goes to show that we don’t all like the same things and that’s okay. We ended up writing about regular llamas that day, but I never forgot those space llamas. Every so often, they would wander back into my imagination, waiting for the right poem.

Well, I finally found a place for them. Here’s a back-to-school poem about feeling nervous, trying to fit in, and, of course, Space Llamas.

Space Llamas

I dyed my hair green for the first day of school.

I wore my new Space Llamas shirt to look cool.

I stepped on the bus, but then felt like a fool.

It only had one empty seat.

It looked like I’d have to sit right next to him;

The kid who would always get picked first in gym.

My guts did a backflip. The world seemed to dim.

I gulped and looked down at my feet.

My legs turned to noodles. I whispered a prayer.

I trudged to that seat thinking, “This isn’t fair.

Oh, why’d I decide to have neon-green hair?

I’d rather be home with the flu.”

I plodded along for what felt like a mile,

then took off my pack and stepped out of the aisle.

He glanced at my getup, then gave me a smile

and said, “I like Space Llamas too.”

 — Kenn Nesbitt

Sometimes magazines ask me to write poems on a specific topic. Earlier this year, an editor at Storyworks 4-6, a multi-genre magazine for students in grades 4–6, asked me to write a poem about being nervous about making new friends on the first day of school. Instead of writing just one poem, I did what I usually do and wrote several different ideas so the editor would have a few to choose from.

In the end, they picked a different poem, called “Friendship Starter Kit,” which you’ll be able to read in the September 2026 issue of Storyworks 4-6. But I liked this one so much that I didn’t want it to sit in a folder on my computer, so I decided to share it here instead.

I think one of the nicest things about making new friends is that sometimes it happens when you least expect it. You don’t always have to plan it. Sometimes all it takes is a funny coincidence, a shared interest, or even grabbing the wrong lunchbox. I hope you enjoy it. This is…

Lunchbox Switcheroo

I brought my new lunchbox the first day of school.

Its Zombie Bananas design was so cool.

I stashed it where lunchboxes go, by the door

alongside a jumble of twenty or more.

At lunchtime the bell rang. I picked up my lunch.

I knew it had grapes and a packet of punch

along with lasagna and some kind of treat.

I rushed to the lunchroom and sat down to eat.

I unlatched my lunchbox and, to my surprise,

found caviar, soufflé, and mini meat pies.

I blinked for a minute, then had to conclude

I’d grabbed the wrong lunch with some other kid’s food.

I jumped from the table and, snapping the lid,

I raced around searching for that other kid.

I found him. He said, “This is your lunch. That’s mine.”

They shared the same Zombie Bananas design.

I said, “You like Zombie Bananas? No way!”

He answered, “Of course! We should meet up and play!”

And that’s how a simple mistake, in the end,

turned into the way that I made a new friend.

— Kenn Nesbitt