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Submitted by A Rose
If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer,
A wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er,
A magic bean buyer . . .
Shel Silverstein was our teacher’s only tool for teaching us poetry when we were kids. “Here, read this book called Where the Sidewalk Ends and then I’ll teach you how to write stories that are this awesome,” they would say. If only a fraction of us were that talented…
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Ha Ha two of those are still under my bed somewhere.
i love that guy. genius!
My sister and I used to do “The GuessWho and the ExactlyWhat” together ALL THE TIME. We loved him!!
Quite a few of his illustrations freaked me out as a kid, though. Some of them I couldn’t look at!
I couldn’t believe it when I learned that he was responsible for “The Mermaid”, a song covered awesomely by Great Big Sea that’s basically about… a guy who bangs a mermaid.
Yea, but, its the MEwho and the ExactlyWhat (sorry, it was bugging me)
I remember going to the public library and at least once a month I would get out some Shel Silverstein and read him again just to laugh! What an amazing talent, he definitely influenced me considerably.
here here!
The best. I’m not sure it taught me how to write poetry but it certainly taught me how to stretch my imagination…
First to say first!
I love his poem “Smart” about the boy who trades a dollar for 2 quarters ‘because 2 is more than 1′ and it goes on and on.
His BEST book ever was “The Giving Tree”…..
that book was so sad, i always felt bad for the tree
I just read “The Giving Tree” recently for the first time. We always had a lot of books at home, but I missed that one somehow. My opinion of it as an adult is that it’s horrible. I too felt so bad for the tree.
But the tree was so kind to the boy, I’m sure it will be repaid…
I 2nd this. not only is it his best but I think it one of my favorite books. It had such a impression on me.
This is by far the best work he did due to its sensitivity and insight. The Tree can be seen as a metaphor for both a parent &, later, a caring spouse that supports the Boy through his life. Even to the end, the Tree and the Boy are there for each other when it appears there’s nothing left for either of them.
This story still makes me misty eyed. I gave a copy to my daughter years ago with a note from me on the inside cover “As the Tree gives to the Boy so I give to you. Love always, -Dad” Makes we weepy even now…
Got ‘em on the shelf.
Am I the only one who was totally freaked out by his poems? There’s some dark imagery in those books.
No, they bothered me too, for some reason. The illustrations made me nauseous.
The only stuff I remember from Shel is his Playboy work. Now they were some interesting art(icles), which is what I read Playboy for, honest.
I still have all of those books. I should read them later
I liked the drawings.
Way better than some of the sugar-coated rainbow crap I see today.
I have all 3 of those.
I have all three plus ‘Runny Babbit’ which was published post-humously.
I love Shel. I cried when I found out he died.
he’s dead?!?!?!?!? :’-(
Don’t forget he was also a songwriter, most famous being a “Boy Named Sue” for Johnny Cash.
He also was responsible for the early songs of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. Sylvia’s Mother, Cover of the Rolling Stone, The Millionaire, Everybody’s Makin’ it Big But Me, Freakin’ at the Freakers’ Ball, and many, many more. Lots of awesome videos of them on youtube, some even have Shel singing along (Sylvia’s Mother performed on Shel’s houseboat.) He was a very talented multi-media gent. Shel felt that Dr. Hook was the only band who could correctly interpret his songs. Do I sound like a fangirl? Oh yes, I am. Of both Shel and Dr. Hook.
Shel is one of my favorite poets of all time! I was given a signed copy of Where The Sidewalk Ends years ago and I STILL re-read it all the time. I plan to pass it down to my future children one day so that they can experience the wonderful stories.
There are too many kids in this tub
There are too many places to rub
I scrubbed a behind
I swear wasn’t mine
There are too many kids in this tub…
Ah, Shel Silverstein – they just don’t get any better than that!
OMG! I quote this one all the time to my hubby, who had never heard of Shel Silverstein before he married me. (I don’t know – the guy lived in a cave or something!) And I had no idea the SS had written some of my favorite songs from Dr. Hook… weird.
SS seems like a definite win here, but apparently there are quite a few parents who find him objectionable. I recall hearing a local school board several years ago was considering removing his books from school libraries because some of his material was ‘inappropriate’ for children. No – he just wasn’t afraid to not pump sunshine up our *sses constantly. :end of rant:
My fave: The Skin Stealer.
This evening I unzipped my skin
And carefully unscrewed my head,
Exactly as I always do
When I prepare myself for bed.
And while I slept a coo-coo came
As naked as could be
And put on the skin
And screwed on the head
That once belonged to me.
Now wearing my feet
He runs through the street
In a most disgraceful way.
Doin’ things and sayin’ things
I’d never do or say,
Ticklin’ the children
And kickin’ the men
And Dancin’ the ladies away.
So if he makes your bright eyes cry
Or makes your poor head spin,
That scoundrel you see
Is not really me
He’s the coo-coo
Who’s wearing my skin.
“…and the greatest of men would be silly and lazy,
so I would be king, if the world was crazy.”
Sort of a personal motto, borrowed from Uncle Shel.
I thought Silverstein wrote “Homework! Oh Homework!” but that was Jack Prelutsky. Oh well. lol
“Sick” is my second-favorite poem from childhood, and that IS a Silverstein poem.
“I cannot go to school today,”
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
“I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I’m going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I’ve counted sixteen chicken pox
And there’s one more–that’s seventeen,
And don’t you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut–my eyes are blue–
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I’m sure that my left leg is broke–
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button’s caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle’s sprained,
My ‘pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow’s bent, my spine ain’t straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is–what?
What’s that? What’s that you say?
You say today is. . .Saturday?
G’bye, I’m going out to play!”
we had to pick a poem to act out in class… I picked this one.
the class was lol-ing!
I believe I did this one for a school talent night. it’s a great pick.
Love that one!
Very WIN!
What fond memories of these books I have. In college we had to perform “Paul Bunyan” for an acting class, it was so fun. I really need to buy these books once I have money and space.
He is my favorite poet of all time. my favorite is
Nobody
Nobody loves me,
Nobody cares,
Nobody picks me peaches and pears.
Nobody offers me candy and Cokes,
Nobody listens and laughs at my jokes.
Nobody helps when I get in a fight,
Nobody does all my homework at night.
Nobody misses me,
Nobody cries,
Nobody thinks I’m a wonderful guy.
So if you ask me who’s my best friend, in a whiz,
I’ll stand up and tell you Nobody is.
But yesterday night I got quite a scare,
I woke up and Nobody just wasn’t there.
I called out and reached out for Nobody’s hand,
In the darkness where Nobody usually stands.
Then I poked through the house, in each cranny and nook,
But I found somebody each place that I looked.
I searched till I’m tired, and now with the dawn,
There’s no doubt about it-
Nobody’s gone.
My favorite was always this one:
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
She’d scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams,
And though her daddy would scream and shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered toast,
Gristly bits of beefy roasts. . .
The garbage rolled on down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall. . .
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold french fried and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That it finally touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,
“OK, I’ll take the garbage out!”
But then, of course, it was too late. . .
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out!
I still hate taking out the damn garbage.
that is my second favorite!
i love alliteration!
That one was turned into a song in the 70s. I can’t remember who sang it but I loved to sing along
off topic question…
how do i change the little picture icon next to my name?
I got onto onceuponawin today so that I could submit Silverstein. Needless to say, this is quite the surprise!
Kudos to whoever beat me to it!
This guy came to my grade school back when Where the Sidewalk Ends was a new book and read a few of his stories. They’re even better when you hear them exactly how the author meant, in terms of inflection and word emphasis.
Wow, that is very fortunate for you. I wish I could say the same for my childhood.
I bought a book on CD of Silverstein reciting the poems from “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” I plan on buying the other two books on CD soon.
Quite a few of my faves are posted up there.. I sometimes quote bits of the garbage poem in my head when I’m cleaning LOL When I clean the bathroom, I think of this one:
Hat
Teddy said it was a hat
So I put it on.
Now Dad is saying,
“Where the heck’s
the toilet plunger gone?!”
What about “The Great Smoke-Off”? That’s one of my favorites!
I used to have dis one on LP, lost it. Not for the kids, which is why most of our generation don’t know it (I didn’t find out about it until later).
Probably comes as a surprise to most who grew up on his children’s works to find out that he started out doing quite adult stuff. In fact, I think he used to hang out with the Hef. Right?
My favorite poem of his…
.
I thought that I had wavy hair
Until I shaved. Instead,
I find that I have straight hair
And a very wavy head.
.
It amuses me because I’ve always had very wavy hair.
i do to until i shaved my head…and i really do have a wavy head!
i was dropped a lot as a child..they tell me anyway.
Shel Silverstein totally rocks my socks… I wrote a one-act play spoofing “American Idol” (when it first came out) and that “round” was all Shel Silverstein poems… it was awesome…. LoL
One sister for sale!
One sister for sale!
One crying and spying young sister for sale!
I’m really not kidding,
So who’ll start the bidding?
Do I hear a dollar?
A nickel?
A penny?
Oh, isn’t there, isn’t there, isn’t there any
One kid who will buy this old sister for sale,
This crying and spying young sister for sale?
(As an older sister, I always tried to ’sell’ my little brother to strangers… LoL)
omg! wut an awsum dude!
who the hell failed him??!?!?!
i luvd all his stuff- specially the one where the lady reads the past cuz the guys lunch is all ovr his front!
good times, good times…
I had all three of these books and could recite every one of his poems from memory at one point in time.
Sadly, Shel Silverstein was quite an important part of my childhood….
And then there’s Uncle Shelby’s ABZ book. Definitely not for the youngun’s, or at least until they’re 6.
My boyfriend was not blessed to read these as a child (amazingly to me!… it was a requirement at my school!) so when i bought one as a “nostalgic gift” two years ago it turned out to actually be an introduction!
This one still gets me…
I will not play at tug o’war.
I’d rather play at hug o’war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
that’s my favourite poem, Jesry <3. My girlfriend gave me a copy of shel silverstein’s book ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ for christmas. My husband called from Afghanistan and I read it to him.
But above all, you have to look up and hear ‘The Smoke-Off’ first published in Hustler magazine in the editorial section. It’s f-in amazing. Fantastic poetry and his delivery was, as ususal, impeccable.
I still read this to my kids. I found all three in a thrift store for 50 cents apiece. Niiiiiiiice…. ^_^
My older sister (God rest her soul) loved A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends.
My favorite poem from A Light in the Attic:
Squishy Touch
Everything King Midas touched
Turned to gold, the lucky fellow.
Every single thing I touch
Turns to raspberry Jell-O.
Today I touched the kitchen wall (squish),
I went and punched my brother Paul (splish).
I tried to fix my bike last week (sploosh),
And kissed my mother on the cheek (gloosh).
I got into my overshoes (sklush),
I tried to read the Evening News (smush),
I sat down in the easy chair (splush),
I tried to comb my wavy hair (slush).
I took a dive into the sea (glush)–
Would you like to shake hands with me (sklush)?
Wheres the Friday FAIL?
Listen to the MUSTN’Ts, child,
Listen to the DON’Ts
Listen to the SHOULDN’Ts
The IMPOSSIBLEs, the WON’Ts
Listen to the NEVER HAVEs
Then listen close to me -
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.
- Shel Silverstein
I love the fact that he wrote “A Boy Named Sue.”
“my beard” was always my favorite
my beard grows to my toes
i never wears no clothes
i wraps my hair
around my bare
and down the road i goes.
HELP!
We have been ingested
by a quick-digesting Sneet
Now we are dodgin’ his teeth
Now we are restin’
in his lower intestine
And now we’re back out on the street.
Please be kind
to the One-Legged Zantz
Consider his feelings
Don’t ask him to dance.
“Invitation” just so happens to be the poem that I am getting a tattoo of. Hooray!
I remember my fav poem from him was the Babysitter:
M(r)s. McTwitter the babysitter
I think she was a little bit crazy.
She thinks a babysitter’s supposed
To sit upon the baby.
Best. EVAR.
I love these poems. We had a poetry recital of one of his books in elementary school. And I remember my poem perfectly.
When the light is green you go
When the light is red you stop
But what do you do when the light turns blue
with orange and lavender spots?
This man was epic, epic win. I still have his poetry books somewhere.
“teddy said it was a hat, so i put it on.
now dad is saying ‘where the heck the toilet plungers gone?’ “
Everyone at school today
called me Spaghetti Head
I think it’s ’cause I forgot my hat
and wore my lunch instead
——————–
Just one of mine, inspired by his style.
[No, I'm not borrowing any hats from Teddy!]
R.I.P. Shel Silverstein.
my dad was shocked when i asked for shel silverstein books when i was in elementary school because he knew him as a playboy contributer. he had no idea he did kids’ books too.
Angelmax: the first time i heard GBS do ‘the mermaid’ i thought it sounded familiar.