Winning Rhymes

Poet Kenn Nesbitt picks his favorites in the TFK poetry contest.

April is Poetry Month. Every year, TFK asks kids to write poems for our poetry contest. Entries pour in from across the country. Poet Kenn Nesbitt is our judge. Here are the grand-prize-winning poem and three runners-up.

COURTESY INICA KOTASTHANE; ILLUSTRATION BY KELLY KENNEDY FOR TIME FOR KIDS

My Locker Is a Monster

By Inica Kotasthane, 13

My locker is a monster,

it’s absolutely true!

It eats my books, my bag, my pens:

Once it ate my shoes!

Its wide-open jaws

snatch everything in sight.

Goodbye, science homework!

There’s no doing you tonight.

You want to borrow a pencil?

I’m sorry, I’ve got none left.

I don’t have any paper, either.

My locker’s committed a theft.

I know I didn’t do my homework

but it isn’t even my fault!

My locker has it, of course,

hidden deep in its vault.

I’m always late to class,

I can’t go without my stuff!

I’d be better off without my locker,

because opening it is just too tough.

I can’t wait for the day

when my locker and I’ll have to part.

I’ve learned my lesson, I’m ready for high school.

No using a locker: I’ll use a shopping cart!

COURTESY TYLER DIEHL; ILLUSTRATION BY KELLY KENNEDY FOR TIME FOR KIDS

My Windows Broke

By Tyler Diehl, 11

My windows broke

and so I froze.

I dropped my mouse

onto my toes.

I took a drive,

ended in a crash,

and now there goes

all my precious × precious PHILLIP HAYSON—GETTY IMAGES (presh-us): of great value ( ) Diamonds are precious jewels. cache.

Got byte after byte,

had very bad pain,

then got a virus,

a very bad strain.

I hope this never

ever happens again,

but it probably will

cuz I have Windows 10.

COURTESY LUCY KATZ; ILLUSTRATION BY KELLY KENNEDY FOR TIME FOR KIDS

Ode to a Parsnip

By Lucy Katz, 11

You may be healthy

Some say you are sweet

But I regret to inform you

That to me you are not a treat

I may get vitamin C when I chew

But to me it is just called vitamin ewwwww

Grandma may love you

Uncle Tom thinks you’re neat

But to me you taste like a bowl of stinky feet

The carrot may be your cousin

This fact you can’t deny

But if one more parsnip makes it in my mouth

I think I just might cry

Please don’t take this personally

I hope I didn’t offend

But dear parsnip, I regret to inform you

Our relationship must come to an end

Think!

What is poetry? How is it different from other kinds of writing?