Poetry for Kids

I’ve always loved writing poems about unusual characters—kids, teenagers, or even adults who do outrageous things or take ordinary situations and turn them completely upside down. “The Reason Vance Learned How to Dance” is one of those poems. It’s about a kid who puts in a ton of effort for one very specific reason… and then something unexpected happens. Poems like this are a fun way to play with something called irony—that’s when the outcome is the opposite of what you’d expect. Imagine practicing all year to go swimming and then forgetting your swimsuit on the big day. That’s ironic—and also kind of funny! In this poem, Vance is a kooky character who works hard toward his goal, but things don’t quite go as planned. Let’s see what happens to Vance as he prepares for his big moment… The Reason Vance Learned How to Dance The reason Vance learned how to dance was for his high school prom. He knew he needed lessons, so he went and asked his mom. She taught him how to jitterbug and how to lock and pop, and how to do the Bossa Nova and the Bunny Hop. She showed him how to do the Robot and the Tango too, the Cha-Cha and the Twist, and the Electric Boogaloo. He learned to do the Chicken Dance, the Moonwalk, and the Mule. At last he felt that he was ready for the dance at school. He’d learned a dozen dances, but he realized too late he couldn’t go to prom since he forgot to ask a date. — Kenn Nesbitt

The other day, I was re-reading my all-time favorite book of poetry, Colin West’s fabulous collection, The Big Book of Nonsense. In Chapter 1, there is a poem simply titled “Knitting.” In Chapter 2, there is a poem called “Octopus.” I was still thinking about the knitting poem when I started reading the octopus poem, and it occurred to me that an octopus who liked to knit would be a funny idea for a poem. Of course, none of what was in Colin’s poems is in mine. That would be plagiarism (copying someone else’s work), and plagiarism is wrong, wrong, wrong. But it just goes to show you how you can not only find inspiration in the real world, but also in the works of others. Inspiration can come from anywhere, including art, songs, and even other poems. Just make sure to write your own words! Without further ado, here is… Today I Met an Octopus Today I met an octopus who loved to sit and knit. I watched her weave a woolen cap and then an oven mitt. She made a scarf, a pair of gloves, a sweater, and a shirt, then turned out several teddy bears, a blanket, and a skirt. She made a pillow cover and pair of knee-high boots, a hoodie and a tablecloth, and several three-piece suits. She made a single slipper next, and then she made a pair. She even knitted stockings and some frilly underwear. I asked if I could learn to knit. She told me, “Not right now. But if you’ll just grow six more arms, I’ll gladly show you how.” — Kenn Nesbitt

Sometimes I think of the ending of a poem before I know how it’s going to start. An idea for a good ending can come from anywhere, and sometimes it can even come from a poem someone else wrote. That’s the case with this poem. The poet Joshual Seigal recently wrote a poem called “Motor Skills.” I loved the ending so much, that I wanted to see if I could write something similar. While his poem and mine are completely different, if you read both of them, you should see how the ending of his poem provided the inspiration for mine. Also, since this is a poem about shapes, I thought I could also make it a learning experience by including as many common shapes as possible. While everyone knows what a circle and a triangle are, you might not remember what a rhombus or a trapezoid look like. So why not take a moment to refresh your memory. Triangles Make Me Feel Nervous Triangles make me feel nervous, and rectangles make me feel sad. I’m not at all fond of the rhombus, and octagons drive me quite mad. The crescent and heart aren’t my favorites. The trapezoid’s truly bizarre. The sphere and the circle are silly. I’m not a big fan of the star. Of all of the shapes I can think of, the square is the best one I’ve found. I’m always excited to see one. I like when a square is around. — Kenn Nesbitt

This poem was inspired by some real-life hair-raising moments in my family. When my daughter was about six years old, she decided, without warning, to cut her own hair one morning before school. Let’s just say the results were… not great. I had to do a quick fix before we dashed out the door. Then, years later, when she was a teenager, she offered to cut her older brother’s hair. That one didn’t go so well either. And, once again, I was the emergency barber. Fortunately, she never tried to cut her parents hair or give the pets a trim. But these memories made me think: what if a kid just couldn’t stop giving haircuts? This is… My Sister Found Some Scissors My sister found some scissors. She climbed up on a chair. She stood before the mirror and snipped off all her hair. She thought it was exciting, and so, when she was through, she gave the dog a haircut. She gave the cat one too. I even let her cut mine. She didn’t do too bad. But when our parents found out, my goodness, they were mad. She tried to be a barber. Now she’s in trouble deep. She practiced on our parents while they were both asleep. — Kenn Nesbitt

My friend and colleague Alan Katz , author of the “Silly Dilly” song books such as Take Me Out of the Bathtub, mentioned that going to be doing a performance called “The Joke Show” and he said that it’s called a “show” because you’re expected to “show up.” Since we both write funny poems, I jokingly asked if there “would be a showdown if I showed up?” As soon as I said it, I realized there was the seed of a poem in there. My wife was on the phone with her mother at the time and as soon as she hung up, she told me that her mom had given her the “lowdown.” That cinched it. I knew I had to write a showdown poem. I hope you enjoy the result. The Showdown The bad guys in the black hats, and the good guys in the white, declared there’d be a showdown in the village square tonight. The word went out for miles around, so people got the lowdown. And everyone decided they should go down to the showdown. With everybody driving on the highway to the showdown, the traffic got so bad that it became a massive slowdown. And in the end, the bad guys and the good guys had no throwdown. The roads were blocked, so nobody could show up at the showdown. — Kenn Nesbitt