Wednesday, May 16, 2007

I just flew in from New York...



...and boy are my arms tired. Okay, with finals looming, that's about as funny as I can get. Poetry Thursday's prompt was to write a humourous poem, and I just couldn't muster it. So instead, here is my favorite Shel Silverstein poem. My parents used to read this to me, but it didn't work. ;)

Sarah Cynthia Slyvia 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,
Grisly bits of beefy roasts...
The garbage rolled 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 fries and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Slylvia 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 right now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out!

8 Comments:

Anonymous said...

My favorite as well...I still have a recording around somewhere of Silverstein reading about Sarah. My second graders love it and I have to read it too them at least twice a day!

Regina said...

Hee hee- poor Sarah! I can only imagine her awful fate!
Shel Silverstein is amazing!
Thanks for posting this!

GreenishLady said...

Not being American, I didn't meet Shel Silverstein in my childhood, or even in time for my son's childhood. My friend introduced him a few years ago. What a treat I missed, but it's good to meet these now! Wasn't he a master? Thank you.

Lisa Cohen said...

We used to read Silverstein to our kids when they were little. Thanks for bringing back the memory and for the smile!

Anonymous said...

Silverstein always makes me laugh. Thanks for sharing!

Aaron Wilson said...

I love Silverstein! I got to see him perform live at the Nebraska Governor's mansion when I was kid.

Good menories!

Rob Kistner said...

Thank you Jessica, for rekindling warm memories.

I love Shel, and also Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss). Their styles are full of joy and abandon. Bouncing and bobbing through one of their pieces is like a wonderful roller coaster ride that runs through a house of mirrors.

I paid a small humble unspoken tribute to them with my blueberry post this month. I wish I wrote half as well as they! :)

Catherine said...

I'm just wondering why children get all the best funny poets. I wasn't familiar with Silverstein when I was a child - either it was too early, or because I'm not American - but I did love Ogden Nash and Edward Lear.