Shel Silverstein

Annie's Log, 11/10/15

There was a book at the library
Called Everything on Top,
And it caught my eye
As I walked by,
And it made me sigh,
So of course I picked it up to see.

I flipped it through and smiled at the pages,
The words by Shel Silverstein.
It was like others I'd read before,
With fantastical beasts and more,
And ideas spilled onto the floor,
Not bound by silly book-cages.

This one brought me to another time,
When I had flipped through the drawings,
Read words that have brought so many joy,
Some simple, some heartfelt, and some coy,
With a tree that loved a little boy,
All written with wit and near-perfect rhyme.

I'd read some like it often before
With fantastical beasts and more,
And ideas spilled onto the floor,
Breaking out of their simple book-cages,
Like this book at the library.

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I saw Shel Silverstein's 2011 release, Everything On It, at work yesterday and read through the 200-page book full of silly poems feverishly. It reminded me of sitting in my first grade class when my teacher read us poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends (my favorite was always "Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me, Too"). And of course, A Light In the Attic and Falling Up and The Missing Piece and Runny Babbit. And one of the greatest children's books ever, The Giving Tree.

It was a nostalgia trip that I wasn't prepared for when I started going back to find some of these old poems that I remembered. There was one about a young prince who only ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and one day the peanut butter glued his mouth shut. And another about wearing masks and polishing the stars and a "Hug-O-War" and so many others that all came rushing back to me when I did some digging.

Just thought I'd share.

End log.