The Discovery Community School’s (DCS) Middles students (grades three and four) hosted a very European poetry café on March 25, complete with Beatnik music, dark shades, checkered tablecloths and 12 types of clapping.

The students took turns at the mic, reading their haikus, tongue twisters and free-form poems. Their work is a culmination of a poetry unit taught by Mrs. Carol Fletcher.

The piece de resistance was the appearance of nationally-known, comedic children’s writer, Kenn Nesbitt, who spent the entire day at DCS coaching the kids and reading his wacky work.

Originally from California, Nesbitt makes his home in Spokane, and spends a good part of the year visiting schools. His early works included “Revenge of the Lunch Ladies” and “The Aliens Have Landed at Our School!” His next collection, “My Hippo Has the Hiccups: And Other Poems I Totally Made Up,” is due to be released April 1 to kick off national poetry month.

Following is a poem that Nesbitt penned along with the Middles class:

My kitten is an athlete

He loves extreme sports.

He jumps his BMX bike

Wearing flaming kitty shorts.

He Bungie jumps and skydives

But now he’s nearly dead.

Because he fell right off the roof

And landed on his head.

For more information on Nesbitt’s poetry, see www.poetry4kids.com.