by Kenn Nesbitt
I see zebras from Zimbabwe
zipping all around the zoo.
I see Zeus up in the zodiac,
a zillion zithers too.
There are zephyrs blowing zeppelins
that are zooming near and far.
There are zealots counting zeroes
in a zone near Zanzibar.
There are Zulus wearing zoot suits
eating zwieback and zucchini
plus a zombie with a zipper
on his zinnia bikini.
Yes, I always have the zaniest
most zonked-out dreams like these,
because every time I go to sleep
I try to catch some Z’s.
Copyright © 2001 Kenn Nesbitt. From the book The Aliens Have Landed at Our School! Meadowbrook Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.
I love wordplay in poetry, and sometimes I even go so far as to write entire poems that are nothing but wordplay. This is an example where I took a single letter and wrote a poem around it. Repeating the initial consonant sounds of words like this is called “alliteration.” Why don’t you pick a letter and see if you can write an entire poem using as many words as possible that start with your letter?
Click here for a lesson on how to write an alliteration poem.
Children’s Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt is the author of many books for kids, including Kiss, Kiss Good Night, My Hippo Has the Hiccups, Revenge of the Lunch Ladies, and many others. His poems have appeared in numerous bestselling anthologies, including every book in the popular Kids Pick the Funniest Poems series, and anthologies with nearly two million copies in print. His work has been published in hundreds of school textbooks around the world, as well as national television programs, and numerous children’s magazines. Kenn travels the country, visiting over 60 schools each year, sharing his wacky brand of poetry with kids nationwide, and helping to create a new generation of poetry lovers. His website, poetry4kids.com, is the most visited children’s poetry website on the Internet.