It’s time again for this week’s Children’s Poetry Blog Post Roundup! Here’s what’s been happening in the world of children’s poetry over the past week, from the wonderful world of kidlit blogs, for all you poetry lovers out there. Let’s see what the poets and teachers have been up to!
The ShowdownMy 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
Hi, everyone! It’s time again for the Children’s Poetry Blog Post Roundup! Here’s what’s been happening in the world of children’s poetry this past week, as shared by the wonderful bloggers out there:
Welcome back for this week’s Children’s Poetry Blog Post Roundup! That means I’ve been sifting through the web, checking out the latest happenings in the world of children’s poetry, and now I’m bringing you the scoop. Grab your pencils and let’s see what’s been going on!
Ice Pops, Ice PopsSummer is here, and the days are getting hot! I wrote this poem a couple of years ago for Storyworks 2 magazine, just in time for the end of the school year. Now that July has arrived again and the days are scorching, it felt like the perfect moment to share it on the website, along with a little “ice advice.” After all, there’s nothing better than a cool, sweet treat on a scorching day… as long as you remember how to treat your treat. This is…
Ice Pops, Ice Pops
Ice pops, ice pops.
A tasty frozen treat.
Ice pops, ice pops.
Delicious, cold, and sweet.
Nice pops, ice pops,
in summer can’t be beat.
But don’t drop. Ice PLOPS
aren’t as good to eat.
— Kenn Nesbitt
It’s that time again for the Children’s Poetry Blog Post Roundup. Here’s what’s been happening in the world of children’s poetry this past week. Get ready to see what our fellow poets and teachers have been up to!
Bernadette the BurperSometimes the silliest ideas make for the funniest poems. This one started with a simple question: What if someone was really, really good at burping? I mean unbelievably good. That idea made me laugh, so I knew I had to run with it. The result is a poem that plays with repetition, exaggeration, and a little bit of mischief—just the kind of humor that makes poetry extra fun. I hope you enjoy meeting one of the world’s most talented burpers… even if not everyone in her family appreciates her skills. This is…
Bernadette the Burper
Bernadette the burper
is the greatest in the land.
She so adept at burping
she can do it on command.
There’s never been a burper
quite as skilled as Bernadette.
She’ll burp the Happy Birthday song,
and then the alphabet.
She’ll burp the periodic table
and the fifty states.
She’ll burp the works of Shakespeare,
Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Yeats.
But every time she burps a burp
it drives her father wild.
He says they’re inappropriate
and unfit for a child.
He says she shouldn’t ever burp.
He tells her that it’s rude.
He says that burping’s impolite,
disgusting, gross, and crude.
So Bernadette agreed to stop
and held them in all day.
Her father changed his mind
when they came out the other way.
— Kenn Nesbitt
Welcome back for another episode of the Children’s Poetry Blog Post Roundup! Here’s what’s been happening in the world of children’s poetry this past week:
I’m thrilled to share some news that’s both personal and professional: I’m now maintaining Jack Prelutsky’s official website!
I Found a Secret PassagewayWelcome to Poetry4kids. I’m Kenn Nesbitt.
Have you ever found something unexpected—a hidden passage, a strange map, or a place no one else seemed to know about? Did you then keep it a secret too, or was it too good not to share?
This poem is all about discovering a secret place and exploring the unknown. It also uses repetition to build a rhythm and to heighten the sense of mystery. As you read it, see if you can feel the excitement of the narrator’s journey and maybe imagine where your own secret passageway might be hiding and where it might lead. This is…
I Found a Secret Passageway
I found a secret passageway
behind a secret door,
inside a secret closet that
I’d never seen before.
I tiptoed through that secret door
and down that secret hall
to find a secret room behind
a secret sliding wall.
And in that secret room there sat
a secret pirate’s chest
that held a secret map that led me
on a secret quest.
I traveled down the secret path
upon that secret map,
but tripped a secret switch and fell
inside a secret trap.
I felt around that secret trap
and grabbed a secret latch
that turned a secret handle
and unlocked a secret hatch.
A secret tunnel took me through
a secret catacomb,
then up a secret stairway where
I found myself back home.
I might have found some secret gold
beyond that secret door…
I’d tell you, but it wouldn’t
be a secret anymore.
— Kenn Nesbitt
