Thursday, April 9, 2009

shel silverstein....

when i was a little girl i would sit for hours and throw my head back laughing at shel silverstein poems... i love them still... i think it's because they are so reflective of the magic inside of a child's imagination... so today i've been reading some of my favorites online... i'll share :)





“If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!”


Where The Sidewalk Ends...

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would you believe that my dad did not want us reading Shel Siverstein when we were kids? I loved Where the Sidewalk Ends but he took it away from me. There were crude-esque poems that he didn't want me reading. I remember two in particular. One of them was about the babysitter who sat on the baby and the other was about the dishes that piled to the ceiling...oh wait-it was trash, not dishes.

The Sitter

Mrs. McTwitter was the baby-sitter
I think she's a little bit crazy.
She thinks a baby-sitter's supposed
To sit upon the baby.


Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out.
She'd wash the dishes and scrub the pans
Cook the yams and spice the hams,
And though her parents would scream and shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceiling:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas and rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the windows and blocked the door,
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peels,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans, and tangerines,
Crusts of black-burned buttered toast,
Grisly bits of beefy roast.
The garbage rolled on down the halls,
It raised the roof, it broke the walls,
I mean, greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Blobs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from old bologna,
Rubbery, blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk, and crusts of pie,
Rotting melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold French fries and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky,
And none of her friends would come to play,
And all of her neighbors moved away;
And finally, Sarah Cynthia Stout
Said, "Okay, 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 right now relate
Because the hour is much too late
But children, remember Sarah Stout,
And always take the garbage out.

Anonymous said...

Incidently, Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout is inundated with gross words. For example, "rubbery, blubbery macaroni" and "gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal."

Rebecca said...

hug-o-war?
yes, please.
"where everyone giggles and rolls on the floor"
well, this is just a normal night over at the bezet/honea household!

Rebecca said...

ooops...correction...
"rolls on the rug"

indian.paintbrush said...

Dear Callie,

Thank you for your comment. August speaks so highly of all of you. I am so grateful for the friendships that have been bestowed him in the last 10 months... God has done such a quick work... and what blesses August blesses my family and I. It's hard to be separated from him. But I know that God is doing such an amazing thing at New life and in Arkansas... it is so exciting! When I visit in May I hope to have the privilege to meet you all, and spend time and get to know you. It would be an honor.

Prayerfully yours,
Maja Kristine`

A Heart Laid Bare said...

I think I read my "When the Sidewalk Ends" copy everynight. My personal fav is the one about the little girl selling her brother for 10 cents or something. Hilarious. We'll have to put one on our new coffee table in our HOUSE!!!! AHHHHHH

Anonymous said...

i cannot go to school today say 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? 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!
what??? what's that??? what's that you say????? you say today is saturday????
GOODBYE! I'M GOING OUT TO PLAY!
-shel silverstien
yeah, i just typed that from memory :)