FRIDAY FICTION: Shel Silversteins' Poetry - a Little Something to Tickle Your Funny Bone

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When I taught 2nd grade, I began every morning with a poem from one of these two books.  The kids grew to love his work and appreciate his humor.  I really love his book, "The Giving Tree", even though there is some funny controvery over it, it is just a simple story and when too much is read into it, it can become constroversial.  The tree gives and gives until he has nothing left to give, but in reality, he provides "Rest" from the old man's labor.  Reminds me of something I read in a book, actually from one of the greatest books of all times!  (The Bible)


This summer has been hot!  Today is Autumn.  Welcome Autumn.  Welcome FALL.  I'm glad your here, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE MY AIRCONDITIONER JUST WENT OUT.   (It really did, and of course it is the weekend.) This poem just makes me smile.

There are too many kids in this tub,

                                         There are too many elbows to scrub.

I just scrubbed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine.

There are too many kids in this tub.

                                         -Shel Silverstein

When I was a kid, this is how my bath time was.  We all got a bath at about the same time and there was less bath that kids.  I taught this poem to my kids years ago and they still remember it.  I have a daughter named Cynthia and a sister named Sarah and so this next poem hits home as well.



SARAH CYNTHIA SYLVIA STOUT
WOULD NOT TAKE THE GARBAGE OUT

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!

Shel Silverstein, 1974 

This is definitely the way thing get in my house sometimes, I'm embarrassed to say!!!!!

All Things Shel Silverstein

08.12.2011 

Just remember, when your feeling down and out, that "HUMOR is our BEST FRIEND".  A big thanks to Shel Silversein for making me laugh........