Author: Kenn Nesbitt

For this poem, I decided to revisit an idea I’d played with years ago in a Christmas poem that I co-wrote with my friend Linda Knaus. In that poem, “Christmas Has Its Ups and Downs,” we had fun using lots of words containing “up” and “down” to tell the story. I thought it would be amusing to create a summertime counterpart using “in” and “out” instead.

My family recently went to a couple of baseball games, and it struck me that baseball is full of “in” and “out” words: innings, infield, outfield, strikeout, and many more. It seemed like the perfect sport for this kind of wordplay.

I challenged myself to squeeze as many “in” and “out” words and phrases into the poem as possible while still telling a simple story about a family enjoying a day at the ballpark. In the end, it all builds to a rather silly phrase that makes me smile every time I say it.

See if you can spot all the different “in” and “out” words hidden throughout the poem. You might even discover a few more than I intended!

Out to the Ball Game

We drove out to the baseball game
to have a weekend outing.
If we’d stayed in instead of going out,
we’d all be pouting.

The game sold out but we got in.
We took in every inning.
We cheered and shouted in the stands.
Our team was out there winning!

They got in one last strikeout
and we cheered them as they won.
The game let out and we drove in.
That outing sure was fun!

And what we figured out,
in all the cheering and the shouting,
is that there’s nothing better
than a weekend inning outing.

— Kenn Nesbitt

I wrote this poem because I’m due for a haircut next week, and I have reached that awkward stage where my hair feels just a little too long. It’s not quite wild enough to be a problem, but it’s long enough that I find myself looking forward to my appointment and wishing it would get here sooner.

At the same time, summer has finally arrived. After months of cool, rainy weather, the idea of spending time outdoors on a warm, sunny day sounded especially appealing. That got me wondering: what if there were a barber who worked outside instead of inside a shop? Before long, I had imagined Benny Buzzcut, a barber who gives haircuts in his back yard and has become so popular that people come from all over to visit him.

As often happens with my poems, I started with a silly idea and then followed it wherever it wanted to go. Along the way, Benny’s little back yard business grew bigger and busier, and the poem eventually found its own amusing ending. I hope you enjoy meeting Benny Buzzcut as much as I enjoyed writing about him.

Usually, the poems I write begin with some oddball idea that pops into my head, a dragon with problems, a monster Thanksgiving dinner, or a kid with a backpack full of strange surprises. But sometimes I write poems for magazines and classrooms with a particular theme or occasion in mind. That’s exactly how today’s poem came about.

Next month marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, America’s 250th birthday, so I thought it would be fun to write a poem celebrating all the things people enjoy doing on the Fourth of July. Fireworks, sparklers, parades, barbecues, hot dogs, lemonade, bubbles, kazoo. To me, Independence Day has always felt like one big summer celebration filled with noise, color, food, and fun.

The poem first appeared in the May 2026 issue of Scholastic Storyworks 3, a multi-genre classroom magazine for third graders, with wonderful artwork by Paula Becker. I hope it helps get you in the mood for summer, fireworks, and a very big birthday celebration. This is…

Happy Birthday, U.S.A.

Happy Birthday, U.S.A.
Time to party. Time to play.
Wave a sparkler. Wave a flag.
Blow some bubbles. Play some tag.

Drink a glass of lemonade.
March beside the big parade.
Bang a drum or play kazoo.
Have a backyard barbecue.

Eat a hot dog. Eat some pie.
Watch the fireworks in the sky.
Live it up this happy day.
Happy Birthday, U.S.A.

— Kenn Nesbitt