Where Did it All Begin...For Me Anyway!

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Let me start off by saying that it is a mircle that this blog is even being posted! Everytime

that I have tried to post it either something has come up, I've had technical trouble or my crazy family has been harassing me. So grrrrrr....and thank goodness it has finally made it!
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I can recall doing poetry units in grade school but they were nothing fancy or awe inspiring. I do not even have any of the poems to post here as examples of my lack of poetry brilliance.

A memory from childhood that sticks out in my mind very clearly is the borrowing of a particular poetry book from a friend. I was maybe in grade four at the time and just finding my independent reading legs. The book was Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein and the friend (I think!) was Tonia who is incidentally in this class.

Here’s a brief bio on Shel Silverstein…he was an American poet, who also illustrated, composed and performed musical works. Some of his other popular works include: The Giving Tree, A Light in the Attic and Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros? He never actually planned to write children’s books but was convinced by several of his friends to try it. What resulted was astonishing poetry and accompanying illustrations that were playfully clever and stone cold serious. His works were enjoyed by both adults and the young alike. His death was a loss to the literary community and to us all.

At any rate, Where the Sidewalk Ends totally captivated me! Silverstein’s creativity, imagination, illustrations and spontaneity were intoxicating. I kept the book for weeks on end and Tonia had to ask for the book back since I kept it for so long. Before giving the book back I recall photocopying almost all of it…how was I to know that was against copyright laws at the age of eight? Oops.

What Where the Sidewalk Ends did for me a child was inspire me to go to the library and delve deeper into poetry books. I can vividly remember sitting in the children’s book section at the Richview Public Library in Etobicoke with poetry books strewn every which way. The organized chaos was orchestrated to help me decide which books I would take home with me to read until the next time I could go to the library.

Another poetry book that I vaguely remember from childhood has something to do with blackberry jam. Since I could not remember the title I could not find the book. I am pretty sure that there was a picture of a toy bear on the cover eating blackberry jam from the jar. If anyone knows what book I am talking about please let me know!

Below I offer up a bit of a teaser from Where the Sidewalk Ends. These are by no means the only poems that I like from the collection, but these are the ones that I specifically remember catching my eye so many years ago.

Invitation

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…
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

This poem starts off the collection of poems and literally beckons us to read further into the collection. Silverstein is appealing to all types of people to come and enjoy his poetry; there are no biases in his fantasy world of flax-gold stories. The double use of Come in! at the end of the poem, makes me think of knocking on a door. This image is constructed by both the way it is placed on the page and the actual rhythm of the words.

The Crocodile’s Toothache

The Crocodile
Went to the dentist
And sat down in the chair
And the dentist said, “Now tell me, sir,
Why does it hurt and where?”
And the Crocodile said, “I’ll tell you the truth,
I have a terrible ache in my tooth,”
And he opened his jaws so wide, so wide,
That the dentist, he climbed right inside,
And the dentists laughed, “Oh isn’t this fun?”
As he pulled the teeth out, one by one.
And the Crocodile cried, “You’re hurting me so!
Please put down your pliers and let me go.”
But the dentist just laughed with a Ho Ho Ho,
And he said, “I still have twelve to go –
Oops, that’s the wrong one, I confess,
But what’s one crocodile’s tooth, more or less?”
Then suddenly, the jaws went SNAP,
And the dentist was gone, right off the map,
And where he went one could only guess…
To North or South or East or West…
He left no forwarding address.
But what’s one dentist, more or less?

No how fun is that poem?! Who actually pictured the dentist crawling into the crocodile’s big mouth?! I know that I did! In the text, there is actually a drawn picture of that which I think is just awesome! Anyway…The poem makes use of some good devices, such as a patterned rhyme scheme with alternate lines rhyming. This gives it that sing-song quality which makes it rather endearing to children and to me. How the word SNAP is put in all caps makes the reader hear the sound, plus the word is onomatopoeia.

For those of you that have never read anything by Silverstein, I recommend going to the library and taking something out by him. You will not regret it.
sv

some information taken from: http://www.nassio.com/silverstein/books.html